The Black Princess
by Gamma Orionis
Summary: Andromeda Black was named for a princess, but she is no such thing. She is a sister, a daughter, a lover, a friend, an outcast and a sinner. Written for Writing Challenge #41 on xoxLewrahxox's Bellatrix Lestrange forum.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Written for Thanatos Angelos Girl's NaNoWriMo Challenge on xoxLewrahxox's Bellatrix Lestrange: The Dark Lord's Most Faithful Forum. From this, you can infer with great accuracy that a) This is going to be long, and b) this is going to be written very quickly and rather hastily.

Warnings: Depending on my mood as I write this (because I really won't have time to censor myself) this is likely to include het, slash, femmeslash, incest and excessive angst.

It is rated T right now, but if I feel the need to change the rating to M in later chapters, I shall.

Enjoy!

)O(

The library at Black Manor was Andromeda's favourite part of the house.

When everything else went wrong, she could sneak off into the library and hide. At the very back of the enormous room, behind so many mazes and rows of bookshelves that finding her through them would be more trouble than she was worth, there was a window seat on which Andromeda sat. Thick, black velvet curtains hid it from sight of the rest of the library, and Andromeda liked to curl up there and look out over the grounds and not think about anything else.

Least of all her new baby sister.

So when Bellatrix yanked back the curtains, and said, "Do you want to see the baby, Andi?" it was all Andromeda could do not to burst into a new wave of childish tears.

She had been gazing out the window, trying to ignore the bustle in the house, lost in her fantasy world. Andromeda liked quiet, but she knew perfectly well that now that there was a new baby in the house – and with the baby, a constant stream of congratulating visitors – quiet was going to become a rare commodity in Black Manor.

When Druella had first announced at dinner – nearly nine months ago, now – that she was pregnant and that soon enough, Andromeda and Bellatrix would be getting a new baby brother or sister, Andromeda had not been able to stop herself from crying.

"What are you bawling about?" Cygnus had demanded of her, impatient with his daughter for her improper behaviour – though, Andromeda being only three years old, crying scarcely seemed improper.

"I- don't- want- a baby sister!" Andromeda had sobbed, rubbing her eyes with her tiny fists, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Why ever not?" asked Druella, leaning over to Andromeda and putting her fingers under her chin to lift her face so she could look her in the eye. "Won't you like having a new baby to take care of and play with and love?"

"No!" wailed Andromeda, shaking her head so fast and hard that her springy, brown curls whip both herself and her mother across their faces. "I don't want a baby sister! Or a baby brother!" And she had continued to insist that until Cygnus had sent her to her room without letting her finish her supper.

Now the baby was born, and Andromeda was quite sure that she would never know another moment's rest.

She turned towards towards Bellatrix, who was standing in front of the window seat, holding a bundle of cloth – which Andromeda presumed contained the baby – in her arms. To Andromeda's rather unhappy eyes, the bundle looked too big for Bellatrix's arms, though Bellatrix was far from spindly. Perhaps it was the sheer bulk of the swaddling clothes wrapped around the child, or perhaps it had more to do with Andromeda's dislike of all things related to the new baby.

"Okay," she mumbled, looking back out the window. She would have loved to go play out on the grounds of Black Manor, amongst the fantasy characters that she imagined inhabited them, but Mother and Father had been very clear that Andromeda was not to leave the house while so many people were coming and going. They had told her that, with all the Purebloods who were coming to give their blessings to the new baby, Andromeda had to be on her best behaviour. And according to them, "Andromeda's best behaviour" included not going out into the Manor grounds.

Bellatrix walked over and seated herself on the window seat next to Andromeda. She held out the bundle, which Andromeda took in shaky little hands. She was petrified of dropping the baby, not because she was particularly concerned about her new sister's wellbeing, but because her parents had spent so very, very long counselling her in how very important it was not to let the baby get hurt. If Andromeda were to drop her sister, she knew full well that there would be hell and more to pay.

But she didn't drop her. Andromeda's childish hands managed to hold onto the blanket and the baby inside it. She stared down at the baby girl's face.

Narcissa, as her parents had decided to name the baby, despite Andromeda thinking it was a stupid name, was so tiny that Andromeda had difficulty believing she was real. She had delicate features, skin that was as unnaturally pale as Bellatrix's, and revealed from the top of the blanket, where it was folded over her head, were a few whisps of pale, silky hair. Andromeda reached out almost instinctively to touch the hair, and a shiver ran up her spine at the strange, almost _too_ soft feeling of it.

"Well?" Bellatrix asked, leaning over Andromeda's shoulder. "What do you think of the baby?"

"I don't like her," Andromeda said automatically. She didn't know whether she would like the baby in the future – though she privately thought she probably would not – but for now, she despised her with everything she had. The child's unnatural beauty – which drew to mind images of Christ in the Madonna's arms – only served to make Andromeda hate her more. She was already ignored in the wake of her older sister, and now she wasn't even going to have the honour of being a youngest sister. Andromeda hated the new baby for stealing any claim to being noticed that she might have had before.

"Me neither," Bellatrix said dismissively. "She's boring. Mummy and Daddy say she's just a baby and she's going to get more interesting when she's bigger, but she's not. She's always going to be boring. I can just tell."

Andromeda smiled a little. Having Bellatrix on her side in not liking the baby was nice. If she didn't like her new sister, and Bellatrix didn't like her new sister, well, at least they would be able not like her together.

"But," Bellatrix continued, "Mummy and Daddy also say that we are not allowed to say that we don't like the baby in public. We're supposed to pretend we do like her, because if we don't. the other Purebloods will think we're not as good as them." Bellatrix said this all with an air of great importance, as though she was imparting upon Andromeda some sort of divine wisdom.

"Why?" asked Andromeda.

Bellatrix shrugged her shoulders. "Because they all like her, and they want us to agree with them, I think. I don't really know. It's just what Mummy and Daddy said."

"Oh."

Bellatrix pulled baby Narcissa out of Andromeda's arms. "I have to go give her back to Mummy and Daddy now. I just asked them if I could take her to see you. Since you're not coming to the nursery."

Andromeda nodded and leaned back against the window again, prepared to resume her sulking over all the attention the new baby was getting.

"Andi?"

Bellatrix had stood up, but she hadn't left yet. She was staring at Andromeda with great concentration.

"What?"

"You're my favourite sister, you know," Bellatrix said, matter-of-factly. "I like you much, much better than I like… _Nar-ciss-a_." She said the name very slowly and carefully, scrunching up her eyebrows as she forced her mouth to form the words correctly.

"Good," said Andromeda. Then, as Bellatrix made her way back out the door, she, Andromeda, whispered to herself, "Bella, you're my favourite sister too."


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Narcissa was two years old, Andromeda still detested her every bit as much as she had the very first time she'd seen her. Narcissa still monopolized their parents' attention, she was still boring – though Andromeda was willing to acknowledge the possibility that maybe – just maybe – she would get less boring when she was older. But for the most part, Andromeda was able to avoid her now.

Having Bellatrix on her side certainly helped.

When Andromeda had been alone, she had stood no chance against her parents. The question, "Do you want to hold your baby sister?" had no acceptable answer but "Yes". But now that Andromeda had Bellatrix with her, she became quite skilled at worming out of situations that required interaction with baby Narcissa.

"Mother, I need Andromeda…" Bellatrix would say any time Druella tried to get Andromeda to play with the baby. Then the two older girls would hurry away, under the pretence of cleaning their bedrooms or cooking dinner, when really what they did was sneak out into the grounds of Black Manor and indulge in their games.

It was on one such day, when Bellatrix had skilfully gotten Andromeda out of having to spend another three hours staring at that damned baby, and the two of them were wandering the grounds, that Bellatrix said, "Have you ever been out onto the moors?"

"The what?" asked Andromeda.

"The moors. You know, outside the Manor grounds."

"There's something outside the Manor grounds?" Andromeda asked, her eyes going as wide as saucers. She had never even considered such a possibility before. Her whole world existed within the walls of the Black family estate.

"Yes. And it's better out there," said Bellatrix with absolute certainty. "I've been out onto the moors."

"Oh…" Andromeda's eyes widened even more. "Is it pretty?"

Bellatrix considered. "I suppose. It's… pretty in a way. It's not pretty like _Narcissa_," she spat the word out with disgust, "it is pretty, though."

"Can I see it?" asked Andromeda.

"I don't know…" Bellatrix said rather doubtfully. "I don't want to get in trouble for taking you out… If I took you out onto the moors, you've have to promise not to ever, ever tell Mummy or Daddy, all right?"

"I promise!" Andromeda said quickly. "I won't tell them anything that we do together!"

"Good," said Bellatrix, nodding with satisfaction. "Come on, then. I can show you the moors as long as you're not going to tell."

"I'm not," Andromeda confirmed, following Bellatrix as she marched down one of the long, winding paths that criss-crossed the manor grounds.

The two girls walked along the path, Bellatrix leading the way and Andromeda following eagerly, until Bellatrix stopped short in front of what seemed to be a solid wall made of stones. She stared at it intently, then reached out and grabbed one of the slightly jutting rocks. She heaved herself up skilfully, then managed to climb up on top of the wall. "Come on, Andi! Follow me!"

Andromeda felt somewhat dubious, but she nervously grabbed onto the rocks too, and managed to struggle until she was on top of the wall as well.

Bellatrix grinned, and grabbed her sister's hand. "It's not that hard, see?" Then she pulled herself over the edge, dragging Andromeda with her.

The girls crashed on the ground, right into a patch of heather, which fortunately cushioned their fall nicely.

"Ouch!" complained Andromeda, but she was grinning and laughing right along with Bellatrix as they struggled to their feet, slightly winded.

"Come on!" Bellatrix laughed, grabbing her sister's hand again, and pulling her to her feet. "I'm going to show you all over…"

The two girls – Bellatrix, taller, stronger, and on longer legs, dragging along short, somewhat stout Andromeda – hurried up along a swell in the ground until Bellatrix stopped short and grinned, turning around and pointing. "Look!"

Andromeda turned to see what her sister was pointing at, and gasped softly. From this distance, Black Manor looked no bigger than a doll's house. Andromeda had never been so far away from the manor, and it amazed her. "It's so _little_."

"Yes," agreed Bellatrix. "See how far away it is? And we could go even further away if we wanted… so far away that the manor would stop even existing…"

"Could we really?" Andromeda asked in wonder. What a strange idea – going so far away that the manor would simply disappear from her life.

"Mm-hmm," said Bellatrix, nodding. "But we're not allowed… we have to go back to the manor pretty soon… so we should just enjoy being this far away from it while we can.

Bellatrix plunked herself down on the ground and started plucking flowers from the ground and weaving them together. Andromeda sat down too, but she didn't pick any flowers. She was gazing at Black Manor from the distance.

"Here, Andi, put this on."

Bellatrix shoved a loop of flowers into Andromeda's hands. Andromeda looked at it. "What is it?"

"It's a crown," Bellatrix said, as though the answer should have been obvious. "You've got to wear it. We're going to play a game and you're going to be the princess and princesses need crowns."

Andromeda beamed as she set the wreath in her hair. She adored getting to play the princess, especially in games with Bellatrix, even though Bellatrix always seemed to take even more interesting parts for herself – evil queens and daring knights and such. Andromeda wouldn't have wanted to play those parts, though – they took far too much acting and effort. She was happy to play Andromeda the princess, who got kidnapped by Bellatrix the queen and then saved by Bellatrix the knight in shining armour.

The game was played with great enthusiasm on Bellatrix's part – the new surroundings apparently inspiring her to all sorts of new twists in their usual games. She even gave Andromeda a stick and the two of them – as Andromeda the princess and Bellatrix the queen, of course – pretended to duel, which had never happened in the games within the grounds of Black Manor.

But all the way through the games, Andromeda was not thinking about duels or being a damsel in distress or Bellatrix the knight in shining armour's elaborate schemes to save her from the clutches of Bellatrix the queen. She was thinking about the far away Manor.

This was the first time she had been away from it.

The feeling of freedom intrigued her.


	3. Chapter 3

"Where have you girls been?" Cygnus asked when Bellatrix and Andromeda staggered inside at last, both breathless from their playing. Cygnus was sitting in one of the tall, hard chairs that graced the foyer of Black Manor, and he was quite an imposing – almost ominous – presence.

The two girls exchanged slightly nervous glances. Bellatrix had cleaned herself and her sister off carefully before they had come inside, but there was an air about them – an aura of freedom and vitality that never came from Black Manor or the grounds. Andromeda could have sworn she had grown three inches since that morning, and she felt like dancing, like spinning and singing and dancing until she could not breathe and fell to the ground in a heap.

It was far too much to ask that that go unnoticed by their father.

"Have you girls been outside?" he demanded.

Andromeda swallowed hard, shrinking back a little from her father's interrogation. She tried not to show how afraid she could be of her father when he was angry, but she hated – _hated_ – it, and the last thing she wanted was the mood of her time outside to be spoiled by a punishment.

Bellatrix was unruffled, all innocence. "Yes, we were playing in the grounds–"

"You know what I mean! Were you out… on the… on the…" Cygnus gestured towards the window, and dropped her voice to a furious, disgusted hiss. "_On the moors_?"

"No," Bellatrix said immediately, her eyes going almost comically wide as though in shock. "We'd never go out there, Father! We were just on the grounds."

Cygnus squinted at is two daughters, then leaned in close. "I'm only going to say this once. No daughter of mine is ever going to be found out on those moors. They are dangerous. Do you understand me?"

"Of course, Father," said Bellatrix, all but batting her eyelashes as Andromeda stayed silent beside her.

"Good," he said, then straightened up. "And don't be getting your dresses dirty playing out on the grounds either!" he added sharply. "I won't be spending the whole Black fortune on buying new dresses for careless girls who get mud on their skirts."

"Of course we won't, Father," Bellatrix told him. "We were very, very careful about our clothing, weren't we, Andromeda?" Andromeda nodded.

When Cygnus had retired to his study, apparently having had enough interaction with his two older daughters for the time being, and the girls were alone once more, Bellatrix turned to Andromeda, beaming.

"You see?" she said, her voice quivering with excitement. "You see how_ easy_ that was? It was like… it was wonderful, wasn't it? Lying straight to his face…"

"I didn't lie," Andromeda pointed out. "You did."

"But you _could_ have! He would have believed you!"

Andromeda could not deny that. Neither could she deny how… _intoxicating_ the whole experience had been. Going out onto the moors had been spectacular enough by itself, but almost being caught, and getting away from punishment right under their father's nose… she had never experienced anything so thrilling.

That night, Andromeda could not sleep. She was wild with excitement, and kept tossing and turning in her bed. She wanted to leave the room, she wanted to leave the manor and the manor grounds and go out onto the moors again. She wanted Bellatrix by her side and she wanted to play games with her and she wanted to dance over the swells in the ground, feeling air whip around her and lift her right out of her mundane, stiff little world.

She did not go.

She crawled out of her bed, and she knelt on the window seat, pressing her nose against the glass. Squinting out into the darkness, Andromeda fancied she saw movement out on the moors, though whether she was seeing people or just the grass blowing in the wind or if it was just a concoction of her imagination, she did not know.

"What are you looking at?"

Andromeda started. Bellatrix was sitting up in bed, propped up on her hands, watching her sister.

"Nothing," Andromeda said, shrugging and swivelling on the window seat, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them. "Just… at the moors. They're pretty at night."

"Someday I'll take you out onto them at night," Bellatrix promised, suppressing a yawn. "Now go back to bed. Mother and Father will be livid if they think you're up at this hour of the night."

"_Narcissa's_ up all night long," Andromeda grumbled.

"Narcissa's a baby. You're old enough and smart enough to know to get sleep. Come on." Bellatrix pulled back the blanket to her bed. "You can sleep with me."

Andromeda smiled. She slid off the window seat and padded over to Bellatrix's bed, slipping beneath the soft feather cover. The silk sheets felt nice against her skin. The bedding was all comfortably warm from Bellatrix's body heat, and Andromeda let out a contented little sigh and relaxed at her big sister's side.

Bellatrix smiled and cuddled Andromeda against her chest.

"Promise you won't go out onto the moors without me, Bella," Andromeda whispered in her big sister's ear. She didn't want to ever miss an opportunity to go out onto those beautiful moors with Bellatrix. If she could have, she would have happily given her whole life to spending outside with her. "Please promise not to go without me…"

"I promise," Bellatrix whispered back, not hesitating a second. "Promise you won't go without me?"

"I promise," Andromeda said, shutting her eyes and laying her head to rest on Bellatrix's pillow.

Bellatrix sighed contentedly as well, and she stroked Andromeda's hair gently. The two girls curled next to each other, warm and safe and _together_ under Bellatrix's blankets. And though she knew such a feeling was illogical – and a small part of her was beginning to think it was _wrong_, Andromeda felt perfectly protected when she was in her the bed with her sister.

She felt like nothing bad could ever happen, as long as Bella's arms were around her.


	4. Chapter 4

When Bellatrix left for Hogwarts, Andromeda cried more than the rest of her family put together. The night before, she had hung desperately onto her sister, begging her not to leave.

"I have to, Andi," Bellatrix had told her. "I've got to go to Hogwarts."

"But _why_?" Andromeda sobbed, clutching the front of her sister's dress. "I don't _want_ you to go! Please don't, Bella, I don't want to stay here all alone!"

"Stop it," Bellatrix told her, which caused Andromeda to break down into still harder tears.

"B- Bella… I'm scared for you to go," she whimpered. "Mummy and Daddy don't like me the way they like you and Narcissa… I'm going to go crazy locked up here all alone!"

"No you're not," Bellatrix said very firmly. "You're going to be fine, I promise."

"I'm not!"

"Yes!" Bellatrix lost patience with her sister. "Yes, you _are_ going to be fine, I promise you. Mother and Father love you," she added, though she sounded a little as though she didn't entirely believe herself when she said it.

"No they don't," Andromeda sniffed. "They don't even pay attention to me except to tell me I'm not being ladylike."

"We both know that's not true," said Bellatrix. "You're Father's favourite, everyone can see it. Everyone except you, it seems like!"

"I am not. Narcissa is his favourite, she's _everyone's _favourite. She's the perfect little princess, we all know that."

Bellatrix sighed, then touched her sister's cheek, sitting down on her bed and pulling her sister up into her lap.

"Do you know where the name 'Andromeda' comes from?" she asked, smoothing her thumb over her sister's soft skin.

"No," said Andromeda, voice trembling as she sniffed and Bellatrix wiped the tears that had fallen down her cheeks.

"It was a princess," Bellatrix told her. "Andromeda was a princess in Greek mythology. She married Perseus."

Andromeda managed to smile, feeling much better for being told that. "Really? I'm named after a princess? Shouldn't Narcissa be the one named after a princess?"

"No," Bellatrix said, smirking slightly. "Narcissa is named after a boy from Greek mythology who fell in love with his own reflection and died. Your name is a lot better than Narcissa's. Mother and Father must think you're a princess to give you a name like that."

Andromeda's smile widened and she felt a little well of comfort in her stomach. "Oh… do you really think so?"

"I know they did," Bellatrix said with utter conviction. "Now," she added, "do you want to sleep in my bed with me one more time before I leave?"

Andromeda nodded. Bellatrix stood up and pulled Andromeda to her feet as well, turning her around to undo her dress.

Andromeda had just recently been started to wear corsets – at their mother's insistence – and she still did not have any idea how to get herself out of them. Bellatrix's skilled fingers worked the buttons on the back of the dress open, letting it fall around Andromeda's ankles, leaving her in just her underskirt and corset. She leaned down, her hair tickling the skin of the backs of Andromeda's shoulders as she squinted to see the laces holding the corset together in the dim light of their one lamp. Andromeda bit her lip to stop herself from laughing at the tickle, and she could feel goose pimples rising along the back of her neck and arms.

Bellatrix made a soft, "Aha," noise, then jerked on one of the laces and Andromeda felt the strings release. She took a deep breath, causing the corset to pull apart a little. Bellatrix's cold fingers skimmed along her skin, and Andromeda shivered involuntarily.

"All right?" Bellatrix asked, finishing loosening the strings and raising Andromeda's arms above her head so she could pull the corset off that way instead of having to unlace it all the way.

"Yes," Andromeda said softly as the garment was pulled off her. There were red marks in her skin where the boning had been pressed in too closely. She rubbed her hands over her flesh, trying to get rid of the marks.

"Here, let me," said Bellatrix quietly, setting the corset aside. Her hands moved over Andromeda's sides and back, gently rubbing and kneading the flesh. Andromeda shivered a little. At only nine years old, her figure was still childlike, and the corset had dug deep creases into her waist, trying to force it into an hourglass shape.

Bellatrix sighed as Andromeda winced. "You'll have bruises in the morning… honestly… tell mother not to lace it up so tightly. You'll get scars."

"_Scars_?" Andromeda asked, horrified by the thought. She had never been scarred, and the very thought of permanent marks marring her flesh terrified her.

"Don't worry, though," Bellatrix said quickly. "As long as you just keep the corset a little looser, you'll be all right, I promise." Her hands were on Andromeda's stomach now, slowly rubbing away the red marks.

"Stop," Andromeda said, pushing her sister's hands away.

"What?"

She crossed her arms uncomfortably over her chest, and Bellatrix let out a small _Oh_ sound. "Self-conscious?"

Andromeda shrugged, blushing as she looked down.

"Well," Bellatrix said, "I'm your sister. You don't need to be self-conscious around me. And you don't want scars on your chest now, do you?"

Shivering, Andromeda shook her head. "N- no…"

"Then you'll let me make sure the corset boning isn't going to leave marks all over your breasts," Bellatrix said simply, taking Andromeda's hands off her breasts.

Andromeda flushed, her cheeks going deep red. She looked down, her hair falling over her face to hide it for shame. Over the summer, she had finally started to develop something reminiscent of a bust. Two small, soft, rather ungraceful bumps had grown on her chest, and much as she hated her corset, Andromeda was glad at least that it hid her breasts from view.

Bellatrix didn't touch her, but Andromeda felt her eyes, then Bellatrix said, "You're fine. No scars there."

Andromeda looked up to see her older sister turning away and shrugging out of her own dress and letting it fall to the ground around her ankles. "Would you undo my corset, Andromeda?"

Childish hands trembling a little, Andromeda set to work on her sister's corset strings. She tugged rather clumsily at them, causing Bellatrix to gasp in pain when her rib cage was compressed still further as Andromeda accidently pulled the laces tighter.

"Sorry," she mumbled, finally managing to get the knot undone.

"It's all right," Bellatrix said, gasping for air as Andromeda loosened the garment. At last, she managed to wriggle out of it, and she rubbed her hands over her own sides, back and front to get rid of the marks.

The two girls stood, in only their underskirts, looking at each other for a moment. Bellatrix looked, in Andromeda's estimation, much older than eleven – thirteen or fourteen at least. She stood tall, seemingly proud of her body in a way that Andromeda never could be.

Bellatrix glanced in a mirror, twisting around to be sure that there weren't any serious marks on her skin, then nodded in satisfaction, letting her underskirt slide down her legs and pulling on a nightdress. Andromeda did the same, though unlike Bellatrix, she did her best to hide herself modestly.

"Now, come on, Andi…" Bellatrix said. She pulled back the covers to her bed and crawled in, and Andromeda followed.

"You have to be a good sister to Narcissa while I'm away, all right?" Bellatrix said, pulling the blankets up over them. "You have to make sure she has a good big sister who will help her and love her and all that…"

"I'll be as good a big sister to her as you are to me…" Andromeda told her. "Or… I'll try at least. No one could _really _be as good a big sister as you."

Bellatrix let out a short, harsh laugh. "Is that what you think?"

"Yes," said Andromeda, without even a shred of hesitation.

Bellatrix sighed and shook her head. "You're wrong, Andi. I'm not a good big sister. I'm a very, very bad big sister."

"No you're not!" Andromeda was outraged at the very suggestion. "You're the best big sister in the word! You're… you're always nice to me and you let me sleep in your bed and everything…"

"I know," said Bellatrix. "That's what makes me a bad big sister."

"I don't understand…"

"Good big sisters," Bellatrix told Andromeda, "do not let their little sisters sleep in bed with them."

"Why not?"

"Because it's wrong."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Bellatrix admitted. "But Mother says it's wrong. She told me I'm not supposed to let you sleep in bed with me." She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm still going to, though. It's not as if Mother will ever know I did, as long as you don't tell her."

"It can't be wrong to let me sleep in bed with you…" Andromeda frowned a little as she considered. "Things are only wrong if they hurt people, aren't they? We aren't hurting anyone by sleeping in the same bed, are we?"

"That's what I think too," Bellatrix agreed. "But Mother says it's wrong, and I'm a bad big sister for doing it."

Andromeda spent a long time contemplating that. Was Bellatrix a bad big sister? No, she couldn't be. Andromeda was only ever happy when she was around Bellatrix, and that _had_ to be the mark of a good big sister.

Before she fell asleep, Andromeda had already decided beyond any shadow of doubt that no matter what her mother said about Bellatrix, Bellatrix was the best sister in the world, and Andromeda would be just as good a sister to Narcissa.

Even though she didn't like her.


	5. Chapter 5

Andromeda found quickly that being a good big sister was not as easy a task as she would have thought it would be. She was impatient with other people by nature, and Narcissa – a small child, and not a very bright one at that – demanded constant patience. Despite what their parents had insisted, Narcissa had not grown more interesting as she got older – she was every bit as dull now as she had been when she was first born.

Granted, she was dull in rather different ways.

Andromeda had thought that Narcissa was dull as a baby because she couldn't talk or play games or even go out onto the grounds with her, and those were all things that she had known full well the baby would outgrow.

And she had. Narcissa had learned to talk, she was old enough and clever enough – though, only _just_ clever enough, in Andromeda's estimation – to grasp rules for games, and she was allowed out on the grounds, under her sister's supervision, at least. But now that she was old enough to do all those things, she was demonstrating very clearly to Andromeda that she was also dull in ways that she might very well _never_ outgrow.

Narcissa did not like the games that Bellatrix and Andromeda so thoroughly enjoyed. Andromeda tried to coax her into fairy tale imaginings – bribing her with roles as princesses and queens and fair maidens who married knights in shining armour – but Narcissa was staunchly opposed to all of them.

"Why?" she asked Andromeda when she tried to convince her to pretend to be a princess for Andromeda to save.

Andromeda tried to explain to her younger sister that there wasn't a "why" – that playing these games was something to do for _fun_, without any real purpose, but Narcissa simply did not understand. She stared blankly at her sister until Andromeda gave up.

Not only that, but because Andromeda constantly had Narcissa trailing around after her, and because Narcissa reported every last thing that she – Andromeda – did during the day, Andromeda was unable, not only to go out onto the moors, but to so much as _look_ at them. She wouldn't have gone out onto them anyhow – she had promised Bellatrix that she wouldn't, after all – but it made her days all the more bleak when she didn't even have a chance to admire them from afar.

"What are you doing?" Narcissa asked one day when she caught Andromeda gazing wistfully out the window at the craggy hills in the distance.

"Nothing," Andromeda snapped. She had been in the middle of a familiar and wonderful daydream, in which she, Andromeda, was locked away in the clutches of an evil queen and Lady Bellatrix came to save her. Not the most creative of fantasies, but one that Andromeda like to retreat into for comfort's sake, enjoying the familiar staples of the story and mentally adding embellishments depending on her mood.

She looked over her shoulder at Narcissa only after she snapped at her, and was shocked to see her little sister looking hurt.

"What is it?"

Narcissa quickly hitched a defiant expression onto her small, delicate face. "Nothing!"

"You're upset. What's wrong?" Andromeda sighed. This was, she supposed, part of being a good older sister. After all, Bellatrix had asked such questions when she sensed Andromeda was upset about something.

"Nothing!" Narcissa repeated, but her voice cracked a little and she swallowed hard, clearly struggling to keep back tears.

"Don't give me that, Cissy. Something's wrong and I just want to know what it is."

"I told you, n- nothing," Narcissa said. She looked down, and her voice went quiet and weak – surprisingly so. Normally, when Narcissa spoke to Andromeda, it was in a loud, rather shrill voice. Now, it was just… _soft._

Andromeda raised her eyebrows and fixed her sister with a stare. It wouldn't take long for her to crack – Narcissa was _terrible_ at keeping her emotions locked away. Not like Andromeda, who was so skilled at hiding her feelings that her parents were quite convinced that she adored Narcissa and rarely even thought about Bellatrix.

"All right," Narcissa sighed at last. "Not nothing. Just… how come you're always so _mean_ to me?"

"What?" Andromeda had not been expecting that answer, and she was outraged. "_Mean_ to you? I'm not _mean_ to you! When have I ever been mean to you?"

"You are so! You were being mean to me just a second ago!"

"What, when I told you I wasn't doing anything? I wasn't being mean, I was telling the truth!"

"You were not! You were doing something, and you lied and you said you weren't doing anything and you didn't say it nicely either!" cried Narcissa, stamping her small foot on the carpeted ground.

"You're being silly, Narcissa. I wasn't either being mean to you." Andromeda crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her younger sister.

"Were too," Narcissa muttered mutinously, dropping her head a little and glaring up at Andromeda through her eyelashes and a curtain of hair.

"Was not," Andromeda told her.

"Were too."

"Was not."

"Were too."

It was at times like this that Andromeda wished for Bellatrix the most. Bellatrix would have known what to do. She would have stopped the argument – distracted both parties with food or a story or _something_. But Andromeda didn't know how to do that, and Narcissa was not going to back down, no matter how wrong she might have been.

Andromeda drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She was the big sister, she reminded herself, and Narcissa was only a little girl. She – Andromeda – had to prove that she was the better one, and that meant that she – Andromeda – was going to have to be the one to back down. She didn't want to. She _hated_ backing down from arguments. But she didn't see any other possible way for this to end.

"You're right, Cissy," she said. Narcissa's head snapped up and her blue eyes sprung wide open, her lips parting in surprise. She had clearly not expected to win the argument. Andromeda expected Narcissa thought it would come to blows, or an intervention from their parents, or both. She had certainly _not_ thought that it would end in Andromeda backing down. Andromeda _never_ backed down. She was a stubborn girl, everyone knew that full well.

"What?" Narcissa asked.

Andromeda hid a smile. Narcissa looked so surprised that it was quite comical.

"I said you're right, Cissy. I was being mean to you, and I'm sorry."

Narcissa looked as though the shock might kill her. She actually swayed slightly in place, mouth open, as though she was going to faint.

"_Really_?"

"Yes, really." Andromeda patted the window seat next to her. "Come on, sit with me."

Narcissa appeared a bit wary as she climbed onto the seat next to her older sister. Andromeda had never been so kind to her before, and it was a little strange and quite unnerving for her to be now.

"Is this a trick?" Narcissa asked bluntly of her sister. "Are you playing a trick on me?"

"No," said Andromeda. "Why would I be?"

"Because you're never nice to me," Narcissa said simply, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't think it's really... I don't think you have it in you to be nice to me, sometimes."

"That's not fair," protested Andromeda. "I'm nice to you lots of times!"

"Like when?" queried Narcissa, tilting her head to the side and raising her eyebrows at her sister.

Andromeda wracked her brains. Surely she had been nice to Narcissa... many times. She felt like she was always straining to be nice to Narcissa. Surely she wasn't really being mean to her when she was putting so much bloody effort into being nice...

"I... I gave you an extra piece of cake at dinner last night?" she tried.

"Only because you were taking an extra one and you didn't want me to tell on you, so you let me have one as well," Narcissa countered.

Andromeda flushed. _Damn_.

"And now you're telling me you're doing nothing when you're obviously not, and you weren't saying it in a nice way either, and then you told me to come sit with you? I mean... wouldn't you suspect something too?" Narcissa asked. She sounded surprisingly logical, more so than Andromeda liked to admit.

"Well, I'm not playing a trick on you," she told her younger sister. "What kind of trick would make me want you to sit on a window seat with me anyway? I can't think of any good tricks that have the trickster and the person being tricked sit on a window seat together."

Narcissa smiled, even giggled a little bit. "Good point..."

"So," said Andromeda, pulling her knees up to her chest and looking at her younger sister, "What do you want to talk about? Sisters are supposed to talk about things, right?" What was the word Bellatrix used to describe it? "Bondage… no, _bonding._ Sister bonding…"

Narcissa smiled even more widely, and Andromeda was surprised. She had such a pretty face when she was smiling... stunningly... angelic and happy-looking. For just a second, Andromeda could almost see what everyone saw in Narcissa. She looked like a baby angel sent down to earth - perhaps a Christmas one, who belonged on a card, or in a painting, overlooking the Virgin Mary and Joseph and the baby Christ in the manger. Having long, sleek blonde hair - so unlike any of the rest of the Blacks - and wearing that sweet little white dress that Druella never seemed to stop wanting to force Narcissa into only increased the angelic appearance. In fact, when Andromeda took a really good look at her younger sister, it was a touch disturbing.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"What?"

"You're staring at me. Is something wrong?"

"Oh…" Andromeda shook her head. "No, Cissy. Nothing's wrong. I'm just…"

"Just what?"

"Just sorry that I've been mean to you," Andromeda said, then leaned down and hugged her sister as tightly as she could.


	6. Chapter 6

It seemed – much to Andromeda's surprise – that hardly any time at all passed between when she was bidding her eldest sister goodbye and when she greeted her again. September, October and November had flown past, though Andromeda was not quite sure where the days had gone. All she knew was that soon – gloriously soon – she was meeting her big sister on the train platform again.

A profound change had come over Bellatrix since she had left for Hogwarts that autumn. It was most peculiar, Andromeda thought, staring at the almost unrecognizable woman in front of her. And yes, she was a woman.

Bellatrix held herself taller than she had used to – quite a feat, as she had always had quite straight posture. But she didn't look stiff either – in fact, she seemed more at ease than Andromeda had ever seen her.

"Andi…"

Bellatrix had to stoop to hug her sister – she must have grown half a foot, and she towered over Andromeda.

"Have you been a good sister?" she whispered in her ear, and Andromeda nodded immediately and enthusiastically.

"The best I could be."

"Good…"

Bellatrix straightened and moved over to Narcissa, though her smile became noticeably more forced than when she had been speaking to Andromeda. "And how are you, Cissy?"

"Good," Narcissa said quietly, sliding one finger between her lips and sucking, a nervous trait that she had developed despite Andromeda's best efforts to curb it. Andromeda gently pulled her hand away from her mouth.

Bellatrix gave her youngest sister a quick, cursory hug, then moved on to her parents. Both Druella and Cygnus seemed so overjoyed to see Bellatrix that Andromeda had to remind herself that just a few months ago, they had been constantly admonishing her for any behaviour that they deemed unsuitable. Now, they acted almost as though Bellatrix was a young lady instead of simply their daughter.

Andromeda was not fooled. They were in public now - of course Mother and Father would behave with more dignity towards their eldest daughter. They would not want other families to suggest that they were unsupportive of Bellatrix's accomplishments.

As Andromeda had suspected, the moment that they disapparated from Platform 9 3/4, the charade was dropped.

"What are you wearing?" Druella demanded. Bellatrix glanced down at herself. "What?"

"This!" Druella pulled down the edge of Bellatrix's shirt and revealed a slip strap over her shoulder. Andromeda looked at it curiously as Bellatrix's face flamed crimson. "Mother!"

"Cygnus, would you give us a moment?" Druella said, and Cygnus stepped out immediately, taking Narcissa with him. Druella did not notice Andromeda still watching, though Bellatrix cast her younger sister a desperate glance.

Druella was quickly popping the buttons of Bellatrix's school shirt undone, despite Bellatrix trying to slap her hands away. "Mother, stop it!"

After only a few moments, Druella finished with the buttons and yanked the shirt off of Bellatrix, whose face turned crimson. She quickly crossed her arms over her chest, dropping her head so her hair shielded her face.

"This!" Druella pointed at Bellatrix's chest. "What is this?"

Bellatrix crossed her arms still more tightly. "Stop it, mother."

"Nonsense! Uncross your arms and stand up straight - you are a Black!"

Bellatrix's lip trembled and she dropped her arms, digging her fingers into the fabric of her skirt as she lifted her head to look Druella dead in the eye.

On her upper body, she was wearing a peculiar sort of garment. Andromeda had never seen anything quite like it. It was something like a white shirt, but it only went to just below the swell of Bellatrix's breasts, and cupped them tightly. Andromeda found herself staring against her will at the soft bumps. It felt as though it had been a long time before she had seen any girl's breasts but her own, and she was rather eager to compare how much she had grown in comparison to Bellatrix's.

Druella plucked at the fabric of the garment on Bellatrix's upper body. "I ask again, Bellatrix, what is this?"

"It's just a bra, mother," Bellatrix mumbled, twisting her skirt between her fingers.

"Exactly! Why in the name of heaven are you wearing this... this disgusting thing? Good Pureblood girls do not wear these! We have corsets for a reason, Bellatrix - where is your corset, answer me that!"

"I- it was-" Bellatrix's cheeks were scarlet. "I did not want to wear it at school. None of the other girls wore them!"

"That is because the other girls are common! You are a Black and you ought to dress accordingly! Do you want people going around saying what a slut you are?"

"A _what_?" Bellatrix's mouth flew open and her eyes filled up with tears. "Mother!"

Andromeda wished she could do something to help. She didn't know what a slut was, but judging by Bellatrix's reaction, it was a very, very bad thing. She clenched her fists in her skirt, bit her lip hard, mentally praying that her mother would let the girls go up to their room and that she, Andromeda, wouldn't have to keep watching this.

"You heard me!" Druella fumed. "You are a Black, you should learn better than to behave like such a _slut_! And your age is irrelevant, you should know! It doesn't matter if you're only eleven years old, your reputation is still important!"

"Fine, then!" shouted Bellatrix, apparently losing all control. She stamped her foot hard, then grabbed the piece of fabric covering her breasts and ripped it off, throwing it to the ground. "Fine! I won't wear it anymore! All right? Will that make you happy with me for _ten bloody minutes_?"

Andromeda swallowed hard, trying not to look at Bellatrix's bare breasts. She dropped her eyes to the floor, biting her lip.

"Don't you dare speak to your mother that way!"

"Why?" Bellatrix screamed. "You can speak to me any way you like!"

"I am your mother! For the love of mercy, Bellatrix, cover yourself!"

"I won't!" shouted Bellatrix, face flushed crimson with anger. "You can't make me! I don't want to! And I wish you weren't my mother!"

With that, Bellatrix whirled and picked up her skirts, dashing out. Druella was left dumbfounded, staring after her with fury painted all over her face. "Why- why, that- that _girl!_" she fumed, quite incoherently. "She's going all wrong!" Then Druella stormed out as well, leaving Andromeda alone.

)O(

After the girls had been sent to bed that night, and Andromeda was quite sure that Cygnus and Druella would not be returning to check on them, she crawled out of her ed and under Bellatrix's blankets. Bellatrix was lying on her stomach, her face buried in her pillow, perfectly still.

"Bella?"

Andromeda heard Bellatrix sniff heartily into the pillow, then she slowly lifted her head. The soft white silk pillowcase was tearstained.

"What?" she snapped, her mouth twisted into an almost exaggerated frown. Andromeda recoiled. Bellatrix's anger was a dangerous thing, and while she, Andromeda, had never yet been on the receiving end of one of Bella's fits of temper, she didn't want that to change.

"I'm s- s- sorry," she stammered. She crawled backwards, trying to make an escape, get back to her bed before her sister's wrath turned on her. "I didn't mean to- to bother you…"

"Oh for…" Bellatrix sat up, hastily dashing tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry, Andi… I didn't mean…" She bit her lip and shrugged her shoulders slightly. "I was just… I've missed you, Andi."

Andromeda felt her cheeks growing warm and thanked heaven that the bedroom they shared was lit only by the white moonlight streaming in from the window, which bleached everything of its colour. With any luck at all, Bellatrix would not see the blush of pride and pleasure rising in Andromeda's cheeks.

_Bellatrix missed me._

"Here." Bellatrix held out her arms and Andromeda crawled into them, happy to feel the warmth of her older sister's embrace for the first time in what seemed like forever. She laid her head on the soft, slightly worn white silk of Bellatrix's nightdress, rubbing her cheek against it with a happy smile. Bellatrix petted her hair the same way she might have done to a cat.

"It's been horrible here without you," Andromeda confided quietly to her sister. It was wonderful to be able to say what she felt again – Narcissa wouldn't have understood if Andromeda had tried to talk to her, Cygnus and Druella would have seen the sentiment as ample cause for punishment, and Andromeda had no friends outside of the family.

"I wish you could come to Hogwarts with me," Bellatrix said. "I can't wait until you're eleven… you're going to love it there."

Andromeda sighed wistfully. "What's it like?"

Bellatrix lay back on her pillows with a slight, happy smile on her lips. Her long black curls – grown three or four inches longer than Andromeda's in the time since September – fanned out beautifully around her head like a black halo. She toyed idly with one of the black silk ribbons that decorated the neck of her nightdress.

"It's amazing," she said, her voice softer and dreamier than Andromeda had ever heard it. "You can't even imagine…"

"Of course I can imagine! Tell me!" Andromeda demanded. She was desperate for escape – even if it was only imaginary escape – from the dreary repetition of life at Black Manor.

Bellatrix bit her lip. "I don't know if I can explain…"

"Of course you can! Try! Please, Bella, just try to explain what it's like!"

There was a pause, then Bellatrix said, "You can do anything you like there. No one cares about propriety, not even a little bit. I mean, there are rules but… but they're different." She rolled over and propped her head up on her hand to look her sister in the eye. "The rules are things like not using magic in the corridors between classes, or not hexing people… but… but we can dance down the halls or laugh out loud or hug each other and no one stops us. No one would even want to. Can you even imagine that, Andi?"

Andromeda shook her head, eyes wide and astonished. How… strange… she thought. How strange it must be to be able to behave freely and openly with everyone…

"And," Bellatrix added, "we don't have to wear corsets."

"What was that thing you were wearing earlier? The one Mother got all upset over…"

"Oh, that." To Andromeda's surprise, Bellatrix giggled a little. "It's a bra… it's like… well, it does the same thing as a corset, it makes your figure nicer, but it only covers your breasts, and it does it without crushing your ribs in."

"Why wouldn't Mother want you to wear it, then?"

Bellatrix shrugged one shoulder. "Because _Blacks_ are supposed to have crushed ribs, I suppose," she said quite scornfully. "I don't know… but let me tell you, Andi," she added, grinning, "once your breasts start really growing, you're going to want one instead of a corset. It's a lot more comfortable."

"My breasts are growing!"

Bellatrix giggled a little at Andromeda's affronted expression. "Sure they are…"

"They are!"

"Well, I can't tell under that corset, you know," Bellatrix told her. "You could still be as flat as when I saw you last."

Andromeda's cheeks went pink and she pulled of her nightgown, yanking at the strings of the corset that she was now required to wear even to bed. Bellatrix watched with raised eyebrows as Andromeda struggled until the corset was off.

"Hm," Bellatrix said softly. "I suppose they are growing after all…"

Andromeda blushed even deeper. "I told you so."

"Yes, you did…"

The way Bellatrix was looking at Andromeda made her squirm, and she pulled her nightdress back on, though she left her corset off. She settled next to Bellatrix, curling against her as Bellatrix pulled the silk covers over the two of them.

"Bella?" Andromeda asked quietly.

"Mm hmm?"

"What's a…" Andromeda struggled to remember what it was that their mother had said. "What's a slut?"

Bellatrix stiffened. There was a long, painful silence before she answered.

"It's a girl who acts wrong," she said at last.

"Oh…" Andromeda pondered. "Like us? Like how we act wrong by sleeping together in the same bed?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Are we sluts, then?"

There was a pause, then Bellatrix burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"N- nothing," Bellatrix said through fits of giggles.

"Then answer. Am I a slut?"

Bellatrix stopped laughing, and she looked at Andromeda, her face going surprisingly serious.

"Maybe… when you're older."


	7. Chapter 7

Andromeda did not like that she had to share her older sister with Narcissa.

At their parents' orders, the three sisters spent much of the time leading up to Christmas together, often in the drawing room. This wasn't so bad, Andromeda supposed, as at least Cygnus and Druella didn't bother them much when they were all together and Bellatrix let Andromeda curl up beside her, but she still didn't like having to contend with Cissy.

On December twenty fourth, the girls were all curled up in front of the fire, heavy thick snow falling outside. Andromeda was watching it as her knitting needles clicked away in front of her, finishing off one of the dozens of lace shawls that she had been told to give nearly everyone in the family. Bellatrix had an embroidery hoop in her lap, and Narcissa, who was too young for needlework, was curled at their feet eating cranberries instead of stringing them onto thread for decorations, as she was supposed to.

Suddenly, Bellatrix popped open the embroidery hoop, yanked the fabric out, and hurled it into the fire.

Andromeda let out a little gasp. "Bella! What are you doing?" Bellatrix had been stitching away at that all day long, she couldn't just throw it away now!

"It's ugly," Bellatrix proclaimed. "And I hate it. And it's for aunt Walburga and she doesn't deserve it anyway."

"But- but-" Andromeda sputtered. "But- but she's got a new baby! You have to give a new mother a blanket for her baby, it's only right!"

"That's a stupid tradition," Bellatrix snapped, "and I won't do it. I don't have to and I don't want to! Her baby can die for all I care."

Tears sprung to Andromeda's eyes. She had never heard her sister speak so harshly, and she didn't like it at all. "What's the matter with you, Bella?"

"What's the matter with me? _What's the matter with me_?" Bellatrix leapt to her feet, narrowly missing kicking Narcissa in the head and overturning the bowl of cranberries. Narcissa whimpered and cowered away from her eldest sister.

"I'll tell you what's the matter with me, Andromeda! I _hate_ it here! I _hate_ being cooped up in this place! It's worse than a prison, and I don't want to sit around in the parlour sewing on blankets for people who don't deserve them just because Mother and Father say I should!"

Andromeda whimpered. She hated her sister being like this – so violent, so… so horribly frightening. She didn't ever want to be afraid of Bellatrix, but she couldn't help it at times like this.

Bellatrix stormed out of the parlour without another word, leaving her two younger sisters trembling fearfully in her wake. After a few moments of silence, Narcissa's face crumpled and she began to cry quietly.

_Oh hell…_

Andromeda sighed and scooped her little sister up into her arms. "It's okay, Cissy, stop crying," she soothed softly, not particularly enjoying having to comfort her sister, but at least she was getting used to it by now. She supposed she didn't hate Cissy very much anymore, really…

"She- scared- me," Narcissa hiccupped, clutching the front of Andromeda's dress with her little hands.

"Me too, Cissy," Andromeda admitted quietly. "But it's okay… she wouldn't hurt us. She loves us. You know that she loves us, right Cissy?"

Narcissa sniffed and nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I know."

"She just got angry. She wasn't even angry at you, she was angry at Mother and Father." Andromeda paused. "At least… I _guess_ that's who she was angry at," she added doubtfully. She didn't really know – maybe Bellatrix was really angry Aunt Walburga, or just at embroidery. Or maybe she _was_ angry at Andromeda and Narcissa. Probably Andromeda, she thought, sighing. It was probably her fault somehow, just like any time their parents were angry it was Andromeda's fault…

"I don't like her," Narcissa whimpered. "She's mean…"

"No she isn't!" Andromeda immediately sprung to Bellatrix's defence. "She's just not very well right now, I think… she'll be fine soon."

"No she won't," said Narcissa. "She isn't like she used to be."

"What are you talking about, Cissy?"

Narcissa sniffed and shrugged her shoulders a little bit. "She used to act like a good big sister…"

"She still does!"

"No she doesn't. She's hardly even talked since she came back."

"She's talked to _me_."

"But she hasn't talked to _me_," Narcissa said, her lower lip trembling as tears filled her large, greyish blue eyes. She twisted her little hands together. "She doesn't like me any more, Andi…"

_Because she never liked you in the first place_

"Of course she does," Andromeda assured her youngest sister, though she was fully aware that she was lying, and not very convincingly at that. "She likes you just as much as she ever did. She _loves_ you just as much as she ever did," she added, correcting herself.

"You really think so?" Narcissa asked, sniffling and looking up at Andromeda hopefully.

_Oh no, I do _not_ think so._

"Of course I do," said Andromeda.

)O(

"Narcissa thinks that you don't like her," Andromeda said that night, when she and Bellatrix were in their respective beds. She didn't quite feel safe crawling over into Bellatrix's – Bellatrix had scarcely said three words to her since the incident in the parlour, and Andromeda still was still feeling a twinge of worry that she was, somehow, the cause of Bellatrix's fit of temper.

"She's right, isn't she?" Bellatrix responded dryly. She was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, perfectly still and impassive. Her voice held no emotion at all.

Andromeda bit her lip and toyed with a lock of her hair. She still vastly preferred Bellatrix over Narcissa, but she was growing used to her younger sister, and being able to appreciate her for what she was – a porcelain doll that their family had for decoration. Narcissa wasn't intelligent, much less interesting, but she wasn't meant to be, and Andromeda was slowly coming to accept that. She didn't like seeing her little doll upset.

"Is it because of me?" she asked Bellatrix at last. "Is it something I did?"

"What?" Bellatrix sat straight up, the blankets falling off her, and looked sharply at her sister. "Why on earth would you think it was because of you?"

Andromeda shrunk back a little bit, glad that she was in the other bed, and that there was a good deal of space to protect her from her elder sister. "I d- d- don't know," she stammered. "I j- just… just thought…"

"Thought _what_?"

"Well," Andromeda said meekly, "when Mother and Father get angry… it's usually because of me… and I thought… I thought that maybe it was because of me when you got angry too…"

"Well, first of all, it most certainly wasn't because of you," Bellatrix said firmly. "I was just… just bored out of my mind. I wish there was some way to use magic for embroidery instead of having to do it by hand…" She sighed impatiently, then shook her head. "Anyway, it wasn't because of you. I was bored and angry and I stabbed my finger with the needle one too many times, and I just… just lost control of myself." She paused for a second, then said, her voice slow and sounding rather worried, "secondly… when have Mother and Father been angry at you?"

"All the time," Andromeda mumbled. "They… they… if they see something that's not quite perfect – and you know how they are, nothing's perfect enough for them – it's always my fault." She screwed up her face and put on an impression of Druella. "Andromeda, your dress is rumpled! Andromeda, your corset isn't tight enough! Andromeda, Cissy's spilled her water again, you were supposed to be watching her…" Andromeda trailed off bitterly.

Bellatrix bit her lip.

"Listen to me, Andi," she said at last, "Mother and Father just want somebody to blame. When I was here, they blamed me for things like that." She matched Andromeda's impression of their mother. "Bellatrix, comb your hair! Bellatrix, Andromeda's torn her dress! Bellatrix, go put Narcissa down for her nap! As though I was a bloody house elf…" she added, clenching her fists in the blankets.

There was a moment of silence, and then Bellatrix sighed.

"Anyway," she said, "It's not you… Mother and Father would find fault with anything, and they'll always just pin the blame to whoever they can. Don't worry about it, all right, Andi?"

"All right," Andromeda said quietly.

"Now," Bellatrix said, flopping back down onto her bed. "Go to sleep. Narcissa will have us up at the crack of dawn to open Christmas presents."

"I can't wait," Andromeda mumbled sarcastically, and she heard Bellatrix laugh as she closed her eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

As Bellatrix had predicted, the sun was not even up – not that it would have been easy to tell either way, as the clouds were so thick – when Andromeda was awoken by the sound of their door slamming open, and of Narcissa's voice as she scurried in

"It's Christmas!" she squealed, as though Bellatrix and Andromeda didn't already know that. "Wake up! Wake up, it's Christmas!"

Andromeda moaned and covered her face with a pillow. She had been in the midst of an extremely pleasant dream, and now that Narcissa had gone and woken her, she couldn't even remember what it was. _Damn._

"Shh… calm down, Cissy," Bellatrix mumbled from her bed. "We know it's Christmas… get off me, you're crushing my leg."

"Sorry," said Narcissa, her voice still high pitched and close to a squeal of excitement, and Andromeda pulled the pillow off her face just long enough to see Narcissa sliding off Bellatrix's bed to stand next to her. Andromeda sighed and replaced the pillow. It really had been a wonderful dream… she was quite sure that Bellatrix had been in it, but she couldn't quite remember… She rolled over, shifting inside her cocoon of warm, somewhat sweaty sheets. So comfortable… she didn't want to ever have to get up.

"Go on and get Mother and Father up, all right?" mumbled Bellatrix, sitting up and clutching her blanket around her. Andromeda lifted her pillow off her eyes to squint over, then quickly ducked her head, startled, noticing that her sister was not wearing a nightgown.

Narcissa scampered back out, and Bellatrix sighed with relief.

"Didn't I tell you?" she asked, looking to Andromeda. "Didn't I tell you that she'd be in here at dawn?"

Andromeda made a general noise of assent. She heard Bellatrix's bed springs creak and looked up nervously, then looked back down, her face crimson, as she saw her sister sitting, completely naked, on the edge of her bed.

"What's wrong with you?" Bellatrix asked, rather coarsely, Andromeda thought.

"You're… not wearing anything."

"You've seen me without any clothes on before."

"I know," Andromeda said uncomfortably.

"Well, then…?"

Andromeda shrugged. There was no reason why seeing Bellatrix like this should suddenly make her uncomfortable. It hadn't before, but ever since Bellatrix came home… well, there had been that episode with the bra, but other than that, Bellatrix had really been unusually modest around Andromeda. And now…

"Oh, well, just look away then and I'll put something on if you're going to be such a prude," Bellatrix said impatiently, and Andromeda kept her eyes trained on the ground as Bellatrix made her way across the room to the wardrobe.

"Cissy was wearing white," Bellatrix mused from the wardrobe. "I'll wear red and you wear green, all right? We'll look all festive."

"Um hmm…" Andromeda murmured, still afraid to look up. There was a rustling of fabric, then Bellatrix said, "all right, you're allowed to look at me now. I'm decent again."

Andromeda looked up with relief. Bellatrix struck a little pose, showing off her pretty red dress. "Come on, you and I should match."

Andromeda crawled out of bed and shed her nightdress slowly, blushing and covering herself, but feeling a little well of pride as Bellatrix moved behind her to tighten the strings on her corset. She liked having her sister help her.

"You look gorgeous, Andi," Bellatrix whispered, knotting the strings, then reaching into the closet for a green version of the dress she was wearing.

Andromeda smiled and pulled it over her head, shifting from foot to foot so the silk whispered against her legs. "Not as gorgeous as you," she said, looking down, shaking her hair out so it covered her face.

Bellatrix smiled a little, lifting Andromeda's head for her so they were facing each other. "Well, a hundred times more gorgeous than Cissy," she said, smirking. "Now come on. We've got presents to open."

Andromeda took her older sister's hand, following her as she trotted down the stairs to the parlour. Narcissa was already sitting at the base of the Christmas tree, tearing the paper off a box. Bellatrix and Andromeda exchanged little smirks, then Bellatrix said in a falsely sweet voice, "What did Father Christmas bring you, Cissy?"

"A doll," Narcissa said happily, lifting it out of the box and displaying it to her sisters. It was, Andromeda thought, every bit as ugly as a doll could possibly be. There was something off about its face, a superior little sneer playing around its porcelain lips. It wore a starched white dress that Andromeda thought was so stiff and elaborate that it looked more like a wedding cake than anything that someone – even a doll – should ever wear.

"Oh, now isn't that pretty," Bellatrix cooed, though she looked as disgusted as Andromeda felt. "And look… it seems like I got a doll as well…" She lifted the lid of the box with her own name on it, and picked up the doll in it, which was an exact copy of Narcissa's, except with black hair instead of blonde and a black dress instead of white. "Andromeda, take a guess what your present is going to be," she added rather bitterly.

Andromeda had already opened her own box, and lifted a doll exactly like her sisters' out of the paper it was nestled in. It had the same arrogant look on its face, and Andromeda felt an immediate and visceral hatred towards the thing. Its hair was brown and its dress grey, but it wasn't hard to tell that it was just exactly the same as the ones her sisters had gotten.

"They're like us!" Narcissa squealed. "Look, mine looks like me, and Bella's looks like her and Andi's looks like her!"

"Just because it has brown hair? I should hope not," muttered Andromeda, putting the doll back into the box and closing the lid on it, finding herself holding back tears. That was a miserable present. A doll like that was something that a parent would get their daughter if they didn't know what their daughter liked. Which, she supposed, was exactly the case. Of course her parents didn't know what she liked – how would they? It wasn't as though they spoke to her often enough to find out.

Druella wandered into the parlour then, immediately sitting down on the couch and scooping Narcissa into her arms. "What did you get for Christmas, darling?" she asked, as though she didn't already know.

Andromeda crawled along the ground until she was right next to Bellatrix and rested her head on her shoulder. "I hate it," she whispered, indicating the box with her doll in it.

"I hate mine too," Bellatrix whispered back. "But we have to pretend we like them. They probably cost a lot of money," she added wisely.

"I don't care. I hate it. It looks like Mother."

Bellatrix laughed, and quickly coughed to cover it up. "S- sorry," she said to Druella, waving her hand a little. "D- don't mind me…" She took a deep breath, steadying herself, then burst out in another little fit of giggles.

"Are you all right, dear?" Druella asked mildly, all though there was no real concern in her voice, as she was far to occupied with Narcissa.

"Yes, yes," Bellatrix said, forcing her face straight. "I'm fine."

"Good," said Druella. "Because you two ought to be getting cleaned up properly. People are going to start arriving soon, and I don't want my daughters looking like they just woke up."

"But we did just wake up," Andromeda pointed out.

"As far as anyone else is concerned," Druella said, fixing her daughters with a firm glare, "You did _not_ just wake up. As far as anyone else is concerned, you do not sleep."

"What?"

"Because Blacks are too important to sleep, isn't that right, Mother?" Bellatrix asked sweetly.

"That's exactly right, dear."

"Come on, Andi," Bellatrix said, taking her sister's arm. "I'll do your hair for you."

She pulled her out of the parlour, quickly shutting the door behind her and sighing with relief. "Thank God… at least now we have an excuse not to stay in there anymore."

"What was all that?" Andromeda asked, still confused, looking at her sister for an answer. "What was that about Blacks not needing to sleep? Of course Blacks need to sleep, that's stupid!"

"I know that," Bellatrix said patiently. "But Mother says we're to pretend like we don't have any human needs. And sleep is one of those."

"Why?"

"Because she thinks Blacks are supposed to be more than human. I'm sure I've explained this to you before."

Andromeda was silent for a little bit, then she asked, "What are 'human needs'? Does that just mean sleep?"

"No," Bellatrix said slowly. "There are other things too… like food… and water… and… well…"

"And what?"

Bellatrix bit her lip hard and Andromeda watched her with confusion.

"Nothing," Bellatrix said at last. "Never mind. Come on upstairs, Mother's going to have a fit if people start arriving. Do you want your hair in braids or in a knot?"


	9. Chapter 9

By the time Bellatrix had managed to get Andromeda's hair into a pair of braids that were tidy enough to satisfy Druella's expectations and knotted them with green ribbons, guests were already starting to arrive.

"Oh _damn_," Bellatrix whispered when she heard the shrill voice of their aunt Walburga downstairs. "She's going to tell Mother that she didn't get that baby blanket from me now…"

"You shouldn't have thrown it into the fire," Andromeda said, tugging on her braids and turning her head to examine the effect from all angles in the mirror. "You were almost done anyway."

"Oh shut up, Andi, that sounds like something that Cissy would say!" snapped Bellatrix.

Andromeda immediately shrunk, bowing her head and folding her hands in her lap, chewing on her lip. The last person in the world who she wanted Bellatrix to compare her to – except perhaps their mother – was Narcissa, and it stung.

"Oh for the love of…" Bellatrix mumbled, rolling her eyes. "Stop being so _sensitive_, Andromeda!"

Andromeda nodded, swallowing back the lump forming in her throat.

"All right," Bellatrix said, quickly scooping her own mass of black curls into a knot on the crown of her head and taking Andromeda by the wrist, "Let's go downstairs, then. The sooner we're down, the sooner supper can start, and the sooner this whole thing can be over."

Andromeda nodded again, and the second the girls were down the stairs, they were all but smothered by the guests.

Uncle Alphard was the first one to get over to them, and he pulled both girls into tight hugs. Andromeda would have been quite happy for things to stay this way – her and Bellatrix and Uncle Alphard together, while everyone else ignored them – but they scarcely had three seconds together before Uncle Alphard was pulled sharply away.

"Your behaviour is most unseemly," Walburga said sternly, before turning on the two girls. "Don't either of you have a kiss for your aunt?"

The night did not improve from there.

Andromeda's private opinion of Aunt Walburga was less that she was the well-intentioned but strict woman that the rest of the world seemed to believe her to be, and that she was, in fact, simply a cruel, cruel woman who enjoyed seeing other people, and especially children, miserable and in pain. That was, Andromeda thought as she stood on tiptoes to reach her aunt's cheek, the only reason that she would ever insist that they kissed her. Druella _never_ insisted that _anyone_ kiss her…

Once the bulk of the adults had spent a few moments in false fawning over Andromeda and Bellatrix, and had moved on to Narcissa, the two girls were ushered into the parlour, where the other children were already seated.

Bellatrix took no time in going over to the couch, dragging Andromeda along behind her, and sitting down next to Rodolphus Lestrange.

This came as a shock to Andromeda – after all, she and Bellatrix had always considered the Lestrange boys to be rather stupid and unpleasant and not worth their time. Andromeda felt a stirring of some unpleasant emotion in her stomach as Bellatrix smiled at Rodolphus.

She cast her eyes around the room. Lucius Malfoy, who was her age, was apparently doing everything he could to appear to be the best-bred, most important out of all the children there, sitting up as straight as he could and keeping his face a mask of indifference, though there wasn't anyone to see them. Rabastan Lestrange was curled up on the other side of Rodolphus, almost mirroring the way Andromeda curled against Bellatrix, except that unlike Andromeda, he was nervously biting his thumbnail, casting constant worried glances around the parlour.

The door swung open and Uncle Alphard stepped in, looking harried and quickly shutting the door behind him. He heaved a sigh, then looked around at the children.

"You five don't mind if I join you in here, do you?" he asked. "I think I'll go mad if I have to spend one more minute listening to those people out there." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, indicating the door, outside of which there were the sounds of the adults making forced conversation.

"Of course we don't mind!" Bellatrix spoke for the whole group. Uncle Alphard smiled easily, and sank into an armchair.

"It would seem we're three short…" he said. "Where are Narcissa, Sirius and Regulus? Shouldn't they be here?"

"No." Once again, Bellatrix spoke for all of them. "They're out there. They're all little enough to get shown off."

"Like dolls," Andromeda added, quietly enough that no one really heard her.

Uncle Alphard grinned. "Well, aren't you five happy that you're old enough that you can stay here?"

There was a general murmur of agreement, then the room fell silent.

"Oh, good Lord," Uncle Alphard said. "Honestly… you don't want to be all boring and silent like them, do you?" Once again, he used his thumb to point over his shoulder, indicating the door to the rest of the house. "Come on… let's talk about something… do you want to hear a story?"

Another general murmur of agreement went through the group, though this one was far more excited in tone than the last. Alphard looked rather proud of himself.

"Good," he said. "What sort of story shall it be, then? Shall we have… a Muggle fairy tale? A story from history? Maybe I could tell you something about a friend of mine?"

"Whatever you like, sir," Lucius put in. "We would be happy to hear any story you wish to tell us."

"Oh, don't sound so stuck-up, Malfoy," snapped Bellatrix. "Tell us a story about a friend, Uncle Alphard," she ordered.

Uncle Alphard chuckled. "Yes, ma'am!"

He leaned back in his chair, taking his time in thoughtfully pulling a pipe from the pocket of his robes. He tapped a little tobacco into it, then used his wand to light it and put the end between his lips, inhaling then letting out a perfect smoke ring. The scent was pleasant, in a strange and bitter way, and Andromeda found a tiny smile forming on her lips.

"Well," he said at last, "I have a friend… her name is Anna… and I met her in France, where she was travelling with her wife–"

"Husband," Andromeda corrected automatically.

Uncle Alphard looked at her, raising an eyebrow, and suddenly Andromeda felt very nervous.

"Her… husband?" she repeated tentatively. "Anna was travelling in France with her husband…?"

"No," Uncle Alphard said, shaking his head. "With her wife."

"But… Anna… is a woman's name… how can a woman have a wife?" Andromeda was confused, and she looked around at the other children for support. None of them seemed to understand any more than she – or, at least, Lucius, Rodolphus and Rabastan didn't seem to understand any more than she. Bellatrix's expression was utterly inscrutable.

"Because she was in love with her," said Uncle Alphard, as though the answer should have been obvious.

"But- but two women can't fall in love… can they? Two women can't get married…"

"Of course they can." Uncle Alphard took another draw from his pipe and blew out a long jet of smoke. "Obviously, they're not really supposed to get married if they're Purebloods and need to carry on the family line," he added, "But yes, two women most certainly can fall in love… and if their circumstances are right, sometimes two woman can get married."

He continued with his story – something about Anna getting lost in the catacombs underneath Paris – but though Andromeda kept her eyes on Uncle Alphard and nodded and looked frightened and excited at all the right times, she was not listening to him.

What a strange idea, she thought – being allowed to marry another woman. Andromeda had always quite dreaded growing up and having to marry a man. Of course, Alphard had said that Purebloods weren't supposed to… but Andromeda couldn't quite help imagining how much nicer it would be to marry a woman than a man.

Who would she marry if she could?

She didn't know… but as she sat through Alphard's story while idly imagining her wedding having two brides, she found that, in her imagination, the other bride had Bellatrix's face…

"Andromeda… wake up."

Andromeda started. She looked over, and saw Bellatrix, prodding her lightly in the arm.

"I am awake."

"You were completely out of it," Bellatrix told her. "Just staring off into the distance… and we've been called for supper." She looked pointedly around the room, which was empty except for the two of them.

"Oh…" Andromeda said, her voice slightly dazed. "Sorry…"

"What were you thinking about?" Bellatrix asked.

"Nothing," Andromeda said immediately. "I was just…" She shrugged. She most _certainly_ was not going to tell Bellatrix that she had been thinking about Anna and her wife.

"Well, come on, then," Bellatrix told her. "Supper's going to be unbearable, and I'm not going to go through it if I don't have you."

Andromeda went willingly with her sister to the dining room, beaming with pride at being wanted by Bellatrix.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Notes: *Points up* Note that I have seen fit to change the rating from T to M.

Warning: Child abuse.

)O(

"Alphard!" Aunt Walburga said, when the children and Uncle Alphard trailed into the dining room. "Have you been filling those poor children's heads with your nonsensical stories _again_?"

"Nonsensical? There have been no nonsensical stories whatsoever," Uncle Alphard told his sister, all innocence.

"No nonsensical stories? I doubt that." Aunt Walburga turned on the children. "What has he been telling you five?"

"He told us about a woman getting lost in the catacombs under Paris," Lucius Malfoy spoke up immediately.

"Leave it, darling," Uncle Orion said, patting Aunt Walburga's hand. She looked as though she was going to condemn this for being the worst thing to possibly tell a group of children, but she pressed her lips into a tight line, and clenched her fists and did not say anything more, for which Andromeda was profoundly grateful.

Everyone was seated around the long dinner table, and food was served up by a veritable army of house elves, and, as usual, the conversation turned to the usual dull subjects that adults simply couldn't seem to help talking about. Andromeda busied herself with her food, pushing little piles of vegetables and meat around her plate to entertain herself. Bellatrix, similarly, seemed to have decided to eat every pea she had been served separately, and the boys on the other side of the table were muttering conspiratorially to each other. Andromeda wished she could have joined in.

"I know that many people think that the methods they use are too extreme," Cygnus was saying, "But no, they've got quite the right idea. Mudbloods deserve death, we all know that."

There was a general murmur of agreement. Andromeda sighed, chewing on a bit of turkey and listening idly.

"Surely that is a bit harsh," said Uncle Alphard. "Of course, Mudbloods aren't equal to Purebloods, everyone knows that, but killing a whole race of people for something that isn't even their fault…"

"I say," Aunt Walburga interrupted, "let the Mudbloods be. They're filth, but then, so are house elves, and we've put house elves to plenty of good use…" She snapped her fingers and a house elf scurried over to refill her glass of wine. "No, it's the blood traitors that need to be weeded out. Being born into a filthy family of Muggles is bad luck, but to be a Pureblood and throw that away…"

"Quite so, darling," agreed Uncle Orion. "What Pureblood would ever want to marry a Mudblood? Or worse, a _Muggle_?" He sneered, shuddering slightly.

"One who was quite mad," Cygnus said. "If the Dark Lord were to put more effort into preventing such marriages, rest assured that he would have my whole hearted support."

"Who is the Dark Lord?" Bellatrix asked suddenly.

The table fell silent, looking at her with confusion. It was rare for a child to even open their mouths at an event such as this, and rarer still for them to ask a question pertaining to what the adults were discussing.

Bellatrix scowled when her question was not answered immediately. "I asked you who the Dark Lord is!"

"He is no one who should concern a young girl like yourself," Uncle Orion told her, once he had gotten over the initial shock.

Bellatrix's eyes narrowed into slits. "I want to know!"

Andromeda looked with confusion at her older sister. Why should Bellatrix care about this so-called "Dark Lord"? Why did it matter to her? The title sounded vaguely familiar to Andromeda, but she didn't see any reason why he should interest her or Bellatrix.

"Why do you want to know, darling?" Druella asked, looking over at her eldest daughter.

"I just do!"

"There's nothing wrong with the girl having a little curiosity, you know," Uncle Alphard said.

"You _would_ think that," Aunt Walburga muttered, glaring at her brother.

"Is no one going to tell me?" Bellatrix demanded. "If you don't, I'll just ask the teachers when I get back to school! I'll tell them you were talking about him! About how you agreed with him!"

"You will tell your teachers no such thing!" Cygnus told her, and his voice was harsh and firm.

"Why not?" asked Andromeda, eager to come to her sister's defence. Bellatrix shot her a look that very clearly said _shut your mouth, Andi!_, but it was too late.

"Because I ordered you not to tell them!" Cygnus said, and the tone of his voice made Andromeda's heart skip a beat. She had rarely heard her father sound so angry, and it _never_ boded well. She shrank back a little in her seat.

Bellatrix, by contrast, seemed to harden when she heard her father's anger. Her back straightened, and she glared at him, her jaw setting and her eyes narrowing.

"Fine," she said, and her voice was colder than Andromeda had ever heard it. She could tell, however – though she doubted anyone who didn't know Bellatrix as well as she did would notice this – that Bellatrix's voice was shaking a little bit, and she was struggling to hold back tears. "I won't tell them, then."

"Surely you're being a little too strict, Cygnus," Uncle Alphard put in quietly. Bellatrix shot him a watery smile in thanks, but Cygnus turned on his brother, fixing all his wrath on him.

"Do _not_," he snarled, "tell me how to raise my children! If you wish to raise children to have disrespect for their elders, then you should have sons and daughters of your own! You are lucky I so much as allow you into my house!"

"Don't you want me in your house, then, brother?" Uncle Alphard asked, and like Bellatrix, his voice turned calm and cold, though unlike her, it was clearly not because he was holding back tears. "Shall I go, then?"

"Please do!" snarled Cygnus.

Uncle Alphard stood up slowly from the table. "Very well, I shall, then." Then he turned on his heel and exited with all the dignity he could muster.

"Perhaps we should go as well," Abraxas Malfoy said tentatively. "It seems… this dinner party should be cut rather short…"

"Please," Cygnus muttered. "My apologies, but yes, I believe it would be best if you were all to go now."

Abraxas stood, taking the hands of his wife and son and they hurried out quickly. The Lestranges followed, leaving only the Blacks.

Aunt Walburga immediately stood and strode across the room, slapping Bellatrix across the face. "Disgraceful!" she cried. "How dare you behave in such a way? You are a Black!"

"Don't hit her!" Andromeda ordered her aunt, coming immediately to Bellatrix's defence.

"Shut up, Andi!" snarled Bellatrix. "I don't need your help!"

"Please," Druella said tearfully. "Please stop – can't we just forget all of this? Walburga, Bellatrix is only a little girl, and she need discipline, yes, but–"

"Don't play pathetic!" Cygnus told his wife. "And you, don't you dare hit my daughter!" he added to Walburga, who stepped back immediately. "I am her father, and _I_ shall be the one who decides what punishment is suitable! Now – all of you – get out!" He gestured at Aunt Walburga and Uncle Orion and their sons, and at Druella, who was clutching a trembling Narcissa against her breast. "And you two – Bellatrix, Andromeda – stay here!"

Aunt Walburga grabbed up baby Regulus from the cradle where he had been lain as they ate dinner, and Uncle Orion grabbed Sirius roughly by his shoulder, and they left just as the Malfoys and Lestranges had.

"Darling, please," Druella said, and her eyes filled up with tears. Andromeda swallowed. It was never a good sign for her mother to start crying – it usually meant that there was someone she felt needed to be manipulated. "Cygnus, my love, please, don't punish them… Bellatrix didn't know what she was saying, and Andromeda didn't do anything at all…"

"Don't you dare try to grovel to me, Druella, it's pathetic! I will punish them as I see fit! Now take Narcissa, and get out!"

"But–"

"Need I remind you," Cygnus growled, "who is the _father_ in this family? Do you, Druella, think that you should have as much control as the father?"

"N- no," Druella whispered, twisting her hands together in her lap.

"Exactly. Now get out of my sight, you stupid- stupid- _stupid woman!_"

Druella left in tears, dragging Narcissa along with her, and Cygnus turned on his two older daughters.

"Stand up," he ordered Bellatrix. "You," he added, turning on Andromeda, "you stay sitting. I want you to watch this, so that you know what happens to disobedient girls."

Andromeda trembled in her seat, too frightened to disobey, watching with huge eyes as Bellatrix slowly stood up and faced her father.

The two of them looked at each other for a long time, then, with a single swift movement, Cygnus wrenched his wand from his belt and aimed it at Bellatrix.

"_Crucio!_"

A jet of light caught Bellatrix in her chest and she fell to the floor. Her body arched, and she screamed more loudly than Andromeda would have thought possible. Andromeda began to cry immediately, terrified for her sister. "Bella!"

"Silence!" Cygnus snarled at Andromeda, lifting his wand for a moment. "Bellatrix."

Bellatrix whimpered incoherently, her body trembling as the spell was lifted.

"_Bellatrix!_"

"Th- thank you, Father," she managed to gasp out, struggling to sit up.

"_Crucio!_"

Once again, Bellatrix collapsed. She twisted horribly, body bending into shapes Andromeda had never even imagined the body could bend into. Tears streamed down her face, but she didn't dare cry out for fear of the same thing happening to her.

At last, after what seemed like eternity, Cygnus lifted his wand again. "What do you say, Bellatrix?"

"Th- th- thank you, F- Father!" Bellatrix sobbed, trembling.

He bent down, catching her throat in his hand. Andromeda whimpered. She hated seeing her strong big sister reduced to such a mess.

"That's right, girl," Cygnus hissed. "Now… just remember… that _nothing – nothing_ – that happens in this house is _ever_ told to your teachers. _Is that clear_?"

Bellatrix sniffed. She seemed incapable of speech – either because of pain or because of her father's hand around her throat, but she nodded.

"Good," hissed Cygnus, letting go of her. "Now…" he added, turning to Andromeda and bending down to look her in the eye. "You don't want that to happen to you, do you?" he asked, and his voice was frighteningly calm. Andromeda swallowed hard and shook her head wildly, so hard that her braids slapped across her face.

"That's right," Cygnus nodded. "And as you don't want that happening… you are going to be very… very careful not to _ever_ disobey me the way your sister has… isn't that right?"

"Y- yes, Father," whispered Andromeda.

Cygnus straightened, then turned on his heel and strode out, leaving the two girls alone. Andromeda immediately rushed to Bellatrix's side, throwing her arms around her in an embrace, but she was pushed away.

"Don't touch me!" Bellatrix ordered her sister.

"B- but-" Andromeda's eyes filled with tears at her rejection.

"I said _don't touch me!_" Bellatrix picked up her skirts and flew from the room, but not before Andromeda heard her sobbing.

She, Andromeda, stood in the dining room for a long time. She was unused to being snubbed by her sister. Never before had Bellatrix turned down her company, and she had certainly never before turned down an embrace…

It was a long time before Andromeda worked up the nerve to go up to her and Bellatrix's bedroom. It didn't make any difference, though, because Bellatrix was not there when she arrived.

Andromeda undressed slowly, sliding out of her green dress and hanging it back up, then painstakingly unpicking the tight, tidy braids that Bellatrix had twisted her hair into. By the time she crawled into her bed and extinguished the lamp, it must have been past midnight, and Bellatrix still wasn't back.

"Andi?"

Andromeda jolted, sitting bolt upright at the sound of a tiny, tentative voice. She turned for the door and saw Narcissa standing there, in her little white nightdress, hands twisted in front of her.

"What is it?" Andromeda asked, perhaps a little more harshly than she had intended. Even from the distance and in the darkness, she could see Narcissa's eyes filling with tears.

"I'm s- s- scared," she whimpered. "Mummy took me out of the room… then I heard Daddy yelling… and Bella screaming… and I'm scared…"

Andromeda sighed. She pulled the blanket up around her bare chest, having given up on sleeping in her corset during the winter holidays, when food abounded, at least. "It's okay, Cissy."

"Where's Bella?"

"I- I don't know," Andromeda admitted, sighing.

"Andi?"

"What is it?"

"Can I sleep with you tonight? Please?" Narcissa asked in a tiny, tremulous voice.

Andromeda swallowed. She couldn't quite help thinking of what Bellatrix had said to her, before she went away to Hogwarts.

_Good big sisters do not let their little sisters sleep in bed with them… Because it's wrong._

But Narcissa looked so little and scared… it couldn't possibly be wrong to let her share her bed. It would just be for comfort, after all…

"Yes," Andromeda said, and Narcissa came over instantly, closing the door behind her and crawling into bed with her older sister.

Perhaps Narcissa was too young to feel awkward or ashamed of Andromeda's nudity, but Andromeda felt more than ashamed enough for both of them as her younger sister cuddled against her bare breast. She had, she supposed, been expecting the younger girl to keep her distance… but, then, perhaps it wasn't so bad…

"I love you, Andi," Narcissa whispered.

It felt rather nice, really, Andromeda thought. She supposed this was what Bellatrix felt like when Andromeda cuddled up next to her. Except, usually, Bellatrix was wearing clothes…

"I love you too, Cissy," Andromeda whispered back, and, to her surprise, she wasn't lying.


	11. Chapter 11

It seemed to Andromeda, from that point forward, that Bellatrix moved constantly further and further away. When the Christmas holiday was over and Bellatrix went back to school, it hardly made a difference in how much Andromeda saw her.

At least Andromeda had Narcissa.

Narcissa was as dull as ever, that was true – and she spent most of the rest of the holiday carting around her monstrosity of a doll – but having her around really was rather comforting. Andromeda came to rely on her baby sister's innocent presence.

Not least because, as long as Andromeda had Narcissa with her, their father seemed less frightening.

Perhaps it was Andromeda's imagination, but from Christmas day onward, Cygnus seemed to become a far more threatening presence than he had before. Maybe Andromeda had just never noticed how intimidating he could be, or maybe he really did become worse after the disaster of the Christmas dinner, but she found herself more and more nervous around him as time went on.

"Andromeda!" he barked out one day, simply calling her over to ask her some innocent question about what sort of biscuits she would like with her tea, but the sound of his voice frightened her so badly that she knocked into an end table and sent a vase shattering on the floor. Which, of course, did nothing to improve her standing with him.

But when Narcissa was around, Cygnus seemed gentler. Perhaps he really did behave differently, or perhaps it was only Andromeda's imagination – all she knew was that as long as her little sister was by her side, she wasn't afraid of her father.

The year came and went without anyone paying it much notice. Andromeda's tenth birthday was a dull and strained affair. She wished that Bellatrix could have been there with her, but she was off at Hogwarts and Andromeda didn't so much as receive a card from her. The only memorable part of Andromeda's birthday was the night, when Narcissa curled up in her bed – a far rarer event than Andromeda joining Bellatrix had been, as Bellatrix and Andromeda had shared a bedroom and Andromeda and Narcissa did not.

Andromeda had awaited summer eagerly for the chance to see her sister again, but Bellatrix was just as closed off and aloof during the summer as she had been in the latter half of the winter vacation. On the very first night Bellatrix came home for summer, Andromeda curled up in bed with her, as she had done so many times before, but Bellatrix just stiffened and pulled away.

"What's wrong?" Andromeda asked.

"Nothing," Bellatrix told her. "I just… don't want to be touched right now."

Andromeda didn't know what to say to that, so she crawled back into her own bed. That set the tone for the rest of the holiday – Andromeda trying her best to spend time with her older sister, and Bellatrix just pushing her away. Truth be told, Andromeda was not sorry when September came around and she saw her sister off to Hogwarts once again.

"Why aren't you crying?" Narcissa asked, the day after Bellatrix had gone, while she and Andromeda sat in the library.

Andromeda put down her book and looked at her sister, confused. "Why would I be crying?"

"Because Bella left."

Andromeda pulled Narcissa up into her lap and smiled slightly. "But I have you…"

"You had me last year and you cried when Bella left," Narcissa informed her. "You cried for days and days."

"Last year I didn't know how much I loved you," Andromeda told her, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

Narcissa beamed at that, and that was enough for Andromeda. It was true, too. Having Narcissa was better than having Bellatrix, the way Bellatrix had been acting since last Christmas. It would have been better, she supposed, to have the old Bellatrix, the one who went out onto the moors with her and who told her stories, but Narcissa was the nest best thing.

Andromeda missed Bellatrix, that was true, but she was not under any delusions that she would miss her any less if she was at home. Bellatrix acted as though she was so far away when she was at home that she might as well not have been there.

And so that year passed in unremarkable monotony. Bellatrix came home for Christmas, but Andromeda and Narcissa kept their distance from her and she kept her distance from them. They saw each other, and even did some things together – needlework and baking and the like – but when Andromeda looked back on the time they had spent together, she couldn't really remember ever saying anything to her, much less actually _talking_ to her the way the used to. She most certainly didn't get a chance to share her bed. Christmas dinner that year felt perhaps a little more strained than it had in past years, the memory of the outburst last time still quite fresh in many minds, but Bellatrix kept silent throughout the meal, and when she returned to school, Andromeda hardly even noticed.

She was, however, beginning to dread next September.

To Andromeda, going to Hogwarts had always seemed a far-off thing – something that she knew on a certain level was going to happen to her eventually, but that she never really believed would. But the time was looming, and, while she was excited to finally be able to go off to school the way she had wanted to for as long as she could remember, she was also nervous. Not nervous so much because she had never been away from home before, or because she was worried that classes would be hard, but because once she was at Hogwarts, it was going to be a lot more difficult to avoid Bellatrix.

When summertime came again, it seemed to pass much faster than it had last time. Last year, the two months of vacation had seemed to drag on forever, what with Bellatrix's standoffishness, and though Bellatrix's behaviour didn't seem to have changed, Andromeda felt as though the summer was slipping by more quickly than any time ever should. She felt as though Bellatrix had hardly stepped off the train at the platform before Druella was taking Andromeda to Diagon Alley to purchase school books and robes.

"Mother?" Andromeda said timidly, as the two of them walked down the street, Druella paying far more attention to greeting passers-by than to her daughter.

"What is it, dear?" Druella responded, distracted by Abraxas Malfoy, who was going in the opposite direction from them, young Lucius in tow.

"I…" Andromeda didn't quite know how to say what she wanted to. She had been voicing her wish to go to Hogwarts since she could speak – how was she now meant to explain that she felt as though she didn't want to go?

"Hello, Abraxas," Druella interrupted, pausing and smiling at Abraxas. Andromeda thought her mother had rather an odd look on her face - it was a smile, but a peculiar one for Druella, whose smiles were usually tight-lipped and emotionless. She was almost fluttering her eyelashes, and she looked genuinely pleased to see Abraxas.

"Hello, madam," Abraxas nodded, taking her hand and kissing it. "I see you're taking young Andromeda out for her school things...?"

"Yes," Druella all but giggled. "And you are taking Lucius?"

"Yes, well..." Abraxas clapped his son on his shoulder. Lucius winced, and rolled his eyes a little. Andromeda managed a small smile. Lucius may have been a stuck up brat, bad enough to rival even Narcissa - no, to beat Narcissa, Narcissa was a hundred times more relaxed and enjoyable to be around than Lucius - but even Lucius could occasionally tell that his father was behaving ridiculously, just as easily as Andromeda could tell that her mother was.

Druella and Abraxas spent a few more endless moments chattering about such unimportant things as the weather - Druella in a strange little high-pitched giggle and Abraxas in an oddly hearty tone, and then, after what seemed to Andromeda like an eternity, Druella took her arm and led her away, leaving Lucius and Abraxas to go on their own way.

"Were you going to say something to me, dear?" Druella asked absently, as they continued towards Flourish and Blott's to pick up the books on Andromeda's school list.

"No," she mumbled, looking down at her feet. "It wasn't... it wasn't really anything important."

"That's nice, dear," Druella told her, and she didn't say another word about it. Andromeda doubted if she would remember in five minutes.

It was just as well. What had Andromeda been planning on saying? "Mother, I've given it some thought and I've decided I don't want to go to school?" Well, she could say that, but what would Druella's response be? Undoubtably, she would ask why - or, even if she didn't, when she told Cygnus about it, he would ask why, and then Andromeda would have to tell her. And what would she tell her? That... that she didn't want to go to school because she didn't want to see her sister? They wouldn't accept that, and she knew it perfectly well.

Especially as they had already paid for her robes and half her books, Andromeda thought bitterly.

And so it was that on September the first, Andromeda had her trunk, and her uniform, and she stood next to Bellatrix on Platform 9 ¾, and they waved goodbye to their parents together.


	12. Chapter 12

As the two girls clambered onto the train, Andromeda could feel her heart beating at what must have been twice its normal speed. She didn't even have words for how nervous she was – nervous about starting school and having to make new friends, yes, but far more nervous about Bellatrix. Her older sister had stood next to her and smiled as they waved goodbye to their parents, but now that they were on the train, would Bellatrix go off and leave Andromeda alone?

"Well, come on, Andi," Bellatrix said, taking her sister's hand and dragging her down the train car.

"What?" Andromeda was surprised. She had most certainly not been expecting this - why, it was almost as though Bellatrix was excited that she was going to school with her.

"Well, I'm not about to let you sit on your own on your way to Hogwarts," Bellatrix told her. "This compartment's free… come on." She yanked the door open and stepped inside, dragging along her trunk and Andromeda's, and pushing both onto the racks above the seats. "Now we just have to hope that no one decides they want this seat for themselves," she added, pushing the door shut and turning to Andromeda with an unusually bright smile.

Andromeda swallowed. She had never seen her sister behave like this - so giddy, so… so happy - even when Bellatrix really had opened up to her and allowed herself to show emotions to Andromeda, this degree of sheer happiness had never been one of them.

"Well," Bellatrix said, sitting down and looking at Andromeda expectantly, "what do you think so far?"

"Of… what?"

"This!" Bellatrix gestured around herself, at the train car, the Hogwarts express, the station outside. "What do you think of it? It's going to be fun, isn't it?"

"What is? Hogwarts?"

"Yes!"

"I… suppose…"

"You suppose? Honestly, Andi, you've been talking half your life about going off to Hogwarts, and now you only 'suppose' it's going to be fun?"

"Mm hmm…"

Bellatrix's forehead creased into a slight frown. "Are you feeling all right, Andi? Do you feel sick?"

"No…"

"Well, then, why are you acting like this? You ought to be excited!"

Andromeda chewed on her lip. "I… don't know," she mumbled. And she didn't. She understood that she ought to be excited. She had been excited for this for as long as she could remember, she'd been telling herself that all summer long. But…

"What about you?" she asked tentatively of her sister. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?"

"All… happy…" Andromeda said, rather lamely.

Bellatrix raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"I mean," Andromeda quickly amended, "all summer… and Christmas… and last summer… and most of last Christmas… you were all… you…" She didn't know quite how to put it. "You didn't seem to want to be around us."

"I didn't," Bellatrix said simply, shrugging.

"What?"

"I didn't want to be around them," Bellatrix corrected herself. "Mother and Father and all the other Purebloods and Cissy, I mean. Of course I didn't want to be around them - I mean, I know you don't… but I don't have to be." She smiled widely. "Now it's just me and you… isn't that right, Andi?"

She nodded slowly. It was true that it was just her and Bellatrix now… but…

"But I was around whenever you came home… and you never seemed to want to be with me then," Andromeda pointed out quietly.

Bellatrix sighed.

"You don't really understand, do you, Andi?" she asked, and her voice had gone from bright and cheerful to quiet and bitter in a heartbeat.

"No," Andromeda said, feeling her stomach sink. "Understand what?"

"Understand why I… why…" Bellatrix paused and took a deep breath, then hung her head and spoke, addressing her knees. Her voice trembled, though Andromeda could tell she was trying her very hardest to keep it flat and emotionless.

"Remember… two years ago at Christmas… when Father got angry at me?" she asked.

"Of course I remember." That had been the start of everything going wrong - Andromeda could not possibly have forgotten, no matter how hard she tried.

"Well… you remember seeing him curse me, isn't that right? You remember him using…"

"The Cruciatus curse?" The sound of the incantation - Crucio - still echoed in Andromeda's mind.

"Yes…" Bellatrix clenched her hands into fists, twisting the fabric of her school skirt in them. "Well…" She gnawed on her lip, tearing off shreds of skin. "I… I don't know if I should tell you…" she mumbled.

"Why not?" Andromeda was starting to worry now. Her heart was pounding a little faster than it should have. "What is it, Bella, what happened?"

"Father says I ought not to tell anybody," Bellatrix said quietly, almost to herself. "He says… he says…"

"He says what?"

"Says it's a family matter… and no one else should know…"

"I am family, though!" protested Andromeda.

Bellatrix looked up, and Andromeda thought she had never seen such a frightening expression in someone's eyes, ever. They all but blazed - not with anger as they might have with Cygnus, but with something else. Something deeper, something… something that made Andromeda want o cringe back, though she didn't, because Bellatrix was her sister and she surely wouldn't ever hurt her…

"You want to know what Father did to me?" Bellatrix asked. Her voice had lifted by a few notes, almost to the point where it was shrill.

"Y- yes," stammered Andromeda.

"You can't even imagine…" Bellatrix snarled. "I don't see why I should tell you- you won't understand-"

"I will, though!" Andromeda told her. "I can understand… I promise!"

"That's what you think!"

Bellatrix paused, then took several long, deep breaths. "All right. All right. Do you want to know what he did to me? I went outside… into the gardens… to calm down. And he followed me. And he… he… oh, just see for yourself!"

Bellatrix yanked back the sleeve of her blouse, sticking her arm out, and Andromeda looked at it with horror.

The word "BLACK" had been carved into the flesh.

The letters were just scars now, but there were markings around them where they looked as though they had been scratched - angry red markings, as though Bellatrix had been tearing at her own flesh.

"He said," Bellatrix told Andromeda, her voice full of bitterness, "that I ought to remember that I'm a Black first and anything else second, and that if I really had any sort of Black pride I wouldn't mind wearing a mark of it."

Andromeda shuddered. "That's… it's not right… it isn't…"

"You're telling me that it isn't right?" Bellatrix snorted derisively. "I know that! I hate him!"

Andromeda swallowed. "No… he's our father, you shouldn't hate him…you can't…"

"I can so! And I do! I don't care if he's our father, all that means is that he bedded mother and got her pregnant! It doesn't mean he cares about us!"

Andromeda winced and shrank back, twisting her hands together. She hated when Bellatrix was angry almost as much as she hated when Bellatrix was aloof and absent. "I- I'm sorry…"

"You just don't understand," Bellatrix muttered. She was rubbing her arm, gnawing on her own lip, apparently out of sheer anger. "You don't know what it's like… you don't even know half of it…"

Andromeda said nothing, and at last, Bellatrix took a deep breath, then sighed. "Never mind, though…" She forced a smile onto her face. "Because we aren't going to have to see him again until Christmas. We're going off to Hogwarts, Andi!" She grabbed her sister's hand and squeezed it. "Come on, be excited! You've been waiting for this for years and years!"

"I know," Andromeda said, and she found herself smiling a little more. "I am excited…"

"You'd better be in Slytherin," Bellatrix told her. "This is going to be fun… it'll be just like before I left for Hogwarts, only better, because Mother and Father won't be around to keep us from doing whatever we please."

Almost in spite of herself, Andromeda let her face break into a wide grin. Bellatrix's excitement was infectious, and as the train snaked its way, slowly at first, then gathering speed, out of the station and out of London, she found herself regaining the excitement she had felt when she had first heard about Hogwarts. This _was_ exciting. And she had been worried about Bellatrix acting all standoffish when they were at school…

They sat together in companionable silence, Bellatrix humming quietly and Andromeda just looking out the window, taking in the scenery, for some time. They had been on the train for perhaps half an hour when they were interrupted by the compartment door sliding open.

"Can I sit here?"

Andromeda whipped around. A boy was standing in the doorway, looking nervous. He must have been a first year – he looked even smaller than Andromeda, and rather soft looking, like an overgrown baby.

"I wouldn't ask," he added apologetically. "Only, everywhere else is full… and…" He trailed off, shrugging his shoulders nervously.

"What's your name?" Bellatrix asked him, looking him up and down with a little sneer around her nose.

"Ted," he told her. "Ted Tonks."

"Tonks?" Bellatrix's eyebrows shot up. "Well, what's your mother's last name?"

"Um…" He looked a bit confused. "It's… Greene…"

"_Oh_… they're Muggles, aren't they?"

"Y- yes…" Ted looked terrified, and Andromeda found herself feeling sorry for the poor boy.

"Well, then, get away from us, Mudblood," Bellatrix snorted, spitting out the epithet with obvious disgust. "We don't want filth like you sitting with _us_. Aren't there other Mudbloods you could sit with?"

Ted's soft face crumpled. He looked as though he was about to cry, and the effect was so comical that Andromeda had to force herself not to burst out into giggles.

Bellatrix had no such restraint, and she laughed shamelessly. "Go away, Mudblood!" she ordered him, standing up and slamming the door in his face before collapsing back into her seat, still giggling. "Did you see the look on his face?" she asked Andromeda. "Baby…" She pulled a dramatic impression of his pout, sticking her lower lip out and scrunching up her eyes.

Andromeda let go of herself and doubled over, laughing. "He looked- just like- Cissy used to- when she cried!" she laughed, snorting in a most unladylike way.

"He did!" Bellatrix agreed, nodding enthusiastically. "He must not have known who we were, or a Mudblood like him wouldn't have even _dared_ ask us if he could sit with us!"

The door swung in again, and Andromeda hurriedly forced herself to stop laughing, looking up at the door where Rodolphus Lestrange was lounging.

"Who was that?" he asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "A boy just came down the hall crying… and, if I know you," he added, stepping inside and flopping down next to Bellatrix, "it was probably because of you."

"It was a Mudblood," Bellatrix told him, her face twisting into a smirk. "He wanted to sit with us – can you believe it?"

"Wanted to, I can believe. _Expected_ to, I have more trouble with… He must be out of his mind." Rodolphus stretched out, leaning back in the seat. "Hi Andi… how are you?"

"Good," Andromeda said, nodding a little. "Excited," she added.

"Bet you're glad to have Bella to help you," Rodolphus said.

Andromeda nodded, smiling shyly and shooting Bellatrix an adoring look.

Rodolphus draped his arm around Bellatrix's shoulders and she grinned, resting her head on his shoulder. "You're both lucky to have me…"

"That I am…" Rodolphus said, smiling down at her.

Andromeda's smile slipped from her face. She didn't like the way that Rodolphus was looking at Bellatrix at all. It was… not right. The expression on his face was almost predatory, as though he wanted to eat Bellatrix. And it was far too close to an expression that had flitted across Abraxas's face when he had looked at Druella the last time Andromeda had seen him. It made Andromeda nervous, and as much as she knew Bellatrix could take care of herself and was at no risk of being eaten by Rodolphus, she still had an almost unreasonable urge to shove him away.

But she didn't, of course. She hitched the smile back onto her face, and sat up straight, and spent the rest of the journey to Hogwarts with a false smile, trying to ignore the expression on Rodolphus's face, and the way that Bellatrix was cuddling up against him.


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Notes: Hurray! I passed the 20 000 word mark, which means this challenge is officially completed. This story is not yet over, but it will be put on temporary hold, while I catch up on other things.

Once again, note the M rating, and do not be offended by the chapter (especially as I've provided ample foreshadowing).

Enjoy!

)O(

Andromeda said a nervous goodbye to her sister when the train stopped at the station. She watched worriedly as Bellatrix and Rodolphus, arm-in-arm, made their way down to a line of horseless carriages with the bulk of the students.

"Over here, Andi."

She turned around, and saw Lucius Malfoy, waving her over towards him. She smiled gratefully and rushed to his side, thankful for a familiar face, even if it was Lucius's.

"First years, over 'ere!" a loud, somewhat rough voice was calling, and Lucius and Andromeda exchanged nervous glances as they approached the voice, and Andromeda squeezed his hand tightly in fear as a huge figure loomed out of the darkness.

"First years!" he called, waving a massive hand, and Andromeda and Lucius approached tentatively. Andromeda's heart skipped a beat when she saw him more clearly.

"Lucius," she whispered, trembling, "it's a _Giant…_"

"Don't worry," Lucius told her, squeezing her hand a little. "He won't hurt you. I promise."

The other children looked every bit as afraid as Andromeda felt, but the Giant didn't seem to mind, and he ushered them cheerfully towards a lake. "Come on, three to a boat!" he called, indicating a line of rowboats.

Lucius helped Andromeda into one, then clambered in himself, muttering under his breath that Purebloods shouldn't have to travel in such an undignified way.

"There's still space in that boat," said the giant, his voice causing Andromeda to whip around, trembling, and seeing him pointing the boy from the train – Ted Tonks – towards her and Lucius.

He looked reluctant, and Andromeda leaned over to Lucius, keeping her eyes on him. "He's a _Mudblood_," she whispered, indicating the boy approaching them.

Lucius snorted, covering his mouth, and moved away as Ted Tonks climbed into the boat. He kept his eyes down, apparently not wanting to make eye contact with Andromeda, which suited her quite well.

"Stay away from us, Mudblood," Lucius told him, pulling Andromeda a little closer and eyeing Ted Tonks with disgust. He dropped his head even more, letting his hair fall into his eyes, and moved to the very back of the boat, as far away from Andromeda and Lucius as he could.

The boats set off of their own accord across the water, and Andromeda fairly glowed with excitement. She felt quite power, sitting at the helm of the boat, her hair whipping behind her, with Lucius Malfoy at her side – like the queen of some fantastic realm. And Ted Tonks at the back of the boat – in her fantasy, he was her slave, ready to serve her whims.

This make-believe kept Andromeda's nerves at bay as they travelled across the lake, and it was only as they approached the castle that they started to return. She twisted her hands in her school skirt, taking deep breaths and trying to retain her fantasy, but she just felt incredibly _small_…

The boats docked, and Andromeda found herself squeezing Lucius's hand again as they made their way with the rest of the first years up into the castle.

"Don't be worried," Lucius told Andromeda. "You know what's going to happen… the sorting hat will go on your head and it'll say you're in Slytherin. Nothing to worry about at all."

Andromeda swallowed and nodded, but she still found herself clinging to him as they were led into the Great Hall. She never would have thought she would be so glad for Lucius Malfoy's presence – she didn't even _like_ him – but having him was so much better than having no one.

She stared around the Great Hall, and felt simultaneous rushes of relief and fresh nerves when she saw Bellatrix at the table decked in silver and green. And there was Rodolphus next to her…

Andromeda put that thought out of her head and smiled weakly in her sister's direction as the first years assembled at the front of the hall. She was struck with a sudden fear when she saw the battered old hat on its stool, and quickly turned to Lucius, eyes widening.

"I don't think I want it knowing my thoughts," she whispered nervously.

"Don't be stupid, Andi," Lucius told her. "Why does it matter?"

"It just…" How did Andromeda explain? How did she explain that she was afraid of what it might see – what her father had done to Bellatrix… Andromeda's flashes of jealousy against Rodolphus… her… feelings… towards Bellatrix…

"Shh," whispered Lucius. "They're starting!"

Andromeda trembled a little as children were called up to the stool and the hat placed upon their heads, calling out the names of the houses. She didn't know whether to be grateful that her name was so early or not…

"Black, Andromeda!"

"Good luck," Lucius whispered, as Andromeda slowly made her way up towards the hat. _Don't trip_, she mentally ordered herself. _Be graceful…_

She sat upon the stool and the hat was set on her head, falling down right over her eyes. For one unbelievable second, as Andromeda clenched her hands in her lap, there was utter silence, then she heard a quiet, gravelly voice in her ear.

"Well, well, another Black…" it said, and Andromeda's heart hammered.

"Yes," she whispered.

"I suppose you want Slytherin, then." It sounded almost bored, as though it had sorted so many Blacks that it didn't much care anymore.

"Yes."

"Pity, you'd be good in Ravenclaw…"

"No, please, Slytherin, I want Slytherin."

"Oh," it sighed, "very well, then… _Slytherin!_"

Andromeda felt an incredible rush of relief as it was lifted from her head and she was allowed to hurry down to sit beside her sister.

Bellatrix grinned at her. "I'm so glad you're finally here." she said, and Andromeda beamed.

In something close to a daze, Andromeda sat through dinner. She was vaguely aware of eating, and of the headmaster Professor Dumbledore speaking to the students, but she wasn't honestly paying much attention to anything except her sister. Bellatrix, by contrast, seemed to be paying attention to anything _but_ Andromeda. She was all but fawning over Rodolphus, and Andromeda _hated_ that. Shouldn't she be more concerned with her sister than with Rodolphus?

It would seem not.

Andromeda found her initial excitement wearing off fast, and by the end of the meal, she felt quite sullen. She practically dragged herself down into the dungeons after the prefect, and couldn't even muster a semblance of excitement when the password was uttered and the entrance to the Common Room was opened. She just followed the other students in and then immediately went to the first year girl's dormitory as the prefect directed.

Her trunk was already at the foot of one bed, and Andromeda wasted no time in pulling on a nightdress and climbing into bed, pulling the curtains around her. She didn't want to have to talk to any giggling girls tonight. She just wanted to lie in bed and brood.

Maybe she had been wrong on the train. Maybe this year really was going to be miserable. Bellatrix was going to be spending her time with Rodolphus, and that was even worse than her just ignoring Andromeda.

"Andi?"

Andromeda sat straight up at the sound of her sister's voice. "B- Bella?" she whispered, pulling back the curtain.

"Shove over, Andi," Bellatrix said, climbing into the bed with her and pulling the curtains closed again. "What's gotten you in such a bad state?"

"Nothing," Andromeda said immediately.

"Oh, don't pretend…" Bellatrix directed her wand at the curtains and mumbled a few words under her breath, then turned back to Andromeda. "There, no one can here us now… so what's wrong?"

"I told you, nothing."

"Is it Rodolphus?" Bellatrix asked.

Andromeda turned over, facing away from her. "Why are you here?" she mumbled into her pillow. "Don't you have your own dormitory?"

"Of course…" Andromeda felt the mattress shift slightly, and was aware of the warmth of Bellatrix's body as she lay down next to her. "But you don't think I'm going to leave my little sister all alone on her first night away from home, do you?"

Andromeda shrugged as best she could.

"Besides," Bellatrix continued, as she lifted up the blankets and squirmed under them, "there's something I have to teach you now you're here… I didn't want to do it at home, Mother and Father might have found out…"

"What?" asked Andromeda, still facing away, then she jumped when she felt a hand on her leg.

"Don't worry," whispered Bellatrix, pressing quite close to Andromeda so she could feel the swell of her breasts against her back. "Just relax…"

Andromeda let out a tiny little gasp as fingers wormed their way beneath her nightgown and started slowly travelling up her thigh. "Bella…"

"I told you… relax… don't worry about anything, all right?" Bellatrix whispered, and then let out a soft sigh, and Andromeda jumped as Bellatrix's fingers touched her between her legs, somewhere not even Andromeda's own hands had ever strayed.

She shivered. "Bella, what are you doing?"

"Relax!" Bellatrix commanded. "Stop talking, and stop questioning me."

Andromeda pressed her lips tightly closed, tensing as Bellatrix's fingers explored her. Her heart must have been beating twice its normal speed.

Bellatrix's index finger ran across a little bump, and Andromeda felt her whole body spasm. Her legs twitched involuntarily, and she could tell Bellatrix was smiling even though she couldn't see her face.

"There…" Bellatrix whispered, and she rubbed the bump again, a little harder. Andromeda squirmed slightly. This was a very strange sensation… there was a sort of warmth and pressure building up in between her legs, where Bellatrix was touching her.

"Feels good?"

Andromeda nodded, and now Bellatrix was rubbing the hard nub of flesh quite vigorously. Andromeda squirmed, almost involuntarily rubbing her hips back against Bellatrix's.

"You're lucky, Andi," hissed Bellatrix, "that your first time gets to be like this… instead of on your wedding night with some brute of a man…"

Andromeda made a tiny mewling noise, like a kitten. She could feel the heat of Bellatrix's body and an ever-growing sensation where she was being touched. Bellatrix's fingers were slick with moisture. They felt better than anything Andromeda could have even imagined…

Bellatrix's other hand, the one not occupied between Andromeda's legs, was slowly moving up her stomach, stroking through her nightgown, and then to her small breast. Andromeda jumped as Bellatrix pinched down on her nipple, and she squirmed against her sister's hands.

"I'm so much better for you than any man could ever be," whispered Bellatrix. "You've always wanted me instead of a man… don't think I don't know… remember when Uncle Alphard told us the story at Christmas?"

"Mm hmm…" Andromeda nodded, arching her back slightly. She couldn't quite tell if the feeling between her legs was pain or pleasure – she had never experienced anything like it and she just didn't know. It was almost unbearable, and Andromeda felt her legs shaking. She wanted to beg Bellatrix to stop, it was all too much…

"You and I can be like Anna and her wife," Bellatrix whispered, and at those words, Andromeda felt something inside her snap. Her whole body trembled and twitched, and it felt so good it almost hurt, and Bellatrix just _wouldn't stop_ rubbing at her, and then Andromeda felt a warm gush of liquid between her legs.

She looked down at herself, panting, and saw a large wet stain over the bed. She flushed, mortified – she hadn't wet the bed in living memory – what was this?

Bellatrix giggled a little. "Don't look so shocked, Andi… it happens to me too…"

"What?"

"When I have an orgasm… like you just did," Bellatrix whispered. "It pours out of me like this…" She plucked at the soaked sheets and nightgown, then picked up her wand, quickly cleaning up the liquid. Andromeda lay back on her pillows, feeling nothing short of stunned.

"It felt good, didn't it?" whispered Bellatrix.

Andromeda nodded helplessly.

Bellatrix leaned over her sister and pressed her lips against hers. Andromeda didn't know how to respond, so she lay quite still until Bellatrix pulled back.

"Suppose I'd better go now," said Bellatrix, sitting up and smoothing her hair, preparing to leave.

It took quite a bit of effort for Andromeda to get words out, but she managed it, just barely. "Wait!"

"Yes?"

A few deep breaths, then Andromeda whispered,

"Promise me you'll do that for me again someday?"

Bellatrix's lips curved into a smile that looked far too much like the one Rodolphus had worn earlier that day.

"Of course I promise."


	14. Chapter 14

Andromeda didn't want to get up that morning. The blankets felt warm, pulled around her, and she could still smell her sister – and her own scent – on it. There was a part of Andromeda – and not a small part, either – that was trying to convince her that what had happened last night had been some sort of hallucination, or a dream or nightmare brought on by the shock of going off to school.

But she could still feel the spots on her chest where Bellatrix had pinched, and there was a strange ache between her legs where she had rubbed too hard. Andromeda could not have imagined that.

She trembled slightly as she sat up and dressed, avoiding eye contact with the other girls in the dormitory. She felt as though they _must_ know what had happened, and that they were probably already whispering about her. _Stop it!_ she wanted to scream, though none of them had said a word. _Stop it, stop it, stop it! We didn't do anything wrong!_

_Had_ they done something wrong? Andromeda asked herself as she slung her bag over her shoulder and trudged down to the Common Room. If so, what was wrong about it? If she and Bellatrix lay in the same bed at night and doing that was right – which she was quite sure it was – then why did this feel like this should be wrong? It wasn't much of a progression from lying together in bed, surely…

There were only a handful of students milling around the Common Room, which was fine by Andromeda. The less people she had to deal with, the less people could find out about her and Bellatrix, for she was sure that anyone who looked at her could tell.

Keeping her eyes trained on the ground just in front of her, she made her way quickly out of the Common Room and into the corridor, quite sure she remembered the way back up to the Great Hall. She hugged her bag a little tighter, and started off in what she thought was the right direction.

Within ten minutes, it became abundantly clear that it was not the right direction at all.

The dungeon corridors twisted and turned in a maze so confusing that Andromeda couldn't have remembered the path she had taken if she tried, and the whole place was just looking less and less familiar. Her heart sped with panic. What if she got lost down here? What if she never found her way out?

_Don't be stupid_, a voice that sounded quite a bit like Bellatrix said. _If you didn't turn up for class, they'd send people out looking for you. They'd find you here, and you might look like a bit of an idiot for getting lost, but they _would_ find you_.

What if they didn't, though? The corridors were so confusing – how could _anyone_ navigate them?

Logic was failing Andromeda, and she was rushing ever faster through the twists and turns of the corridors, as though by increasing the speed at which she travelled them, she would get out faster – never mind that she was only getting more and more lost.

_Stop!_ Bellatrix's voice in her head commanded her, and Andromeda froze.

The silence of the school settled over her. Before, with the pounding of her feet on the floor and her heartbeat in her ear, she had not realized just how far she must be from anything and anyone. It felt like the entire weight of the school was on top of her, and she was being crushed into the ground by it.

Her hands started trembling involuntarily, and her throat constricted with emotion, tears spilling down her cheeks. It was dark, the few torches lining the walls doing little to brighten the place, and though Andromeda had never been claustrophobic before, she felt it now. She felt like she was in a tomb.

She stood as still as she could, straining her ears for some sound, anything to indicate that she was not entirely alone down here. These corridors _had_ to lead _somewhere_, there _must_ have been someone else down here.

And, to Andromeda's profound relief, there was. She heard – from a distance, but still close enough – a long, low, breathless moan.

She didn't think about who would be down here or why they would be moaning. She just started, as silently as she could so as not to drown out the noise, making her way down the corridor. The sound grew nearer and nearer, until, at last, Andromeda rounded a corner and saw the source.

She immediately regretted it.

Bellatrix was leaning against the wall. This would have been wonderful – Andromeda could think of no one she would rather have met down here than her sister, who would know how to get out and who wouldn't tease her for getting lost – except for what she was doing.

Bellatrix was on her knees – strange enough in of itself – in front of Rodolphus Lestrange. Andromeda immediately shrunk back into the shadows, hoping he hadn't seen her, and peered out around the corner to watch what was happening.

Rodolphus was clutching the wall, his clothing dishevelled and his eyes half closed, and Bellatrix had her face buried in his crotch.

Andromeda watched with confusion and disgust as Bellatrix's head moved back and forth. She – Andromeda – craned her neck to try to get a look at exactly what Bellatrix was doing.

Before she could, though, Rodolphus let out a pained moan and his body trembled. Andromeda jumped a little – he looked as though he was having a seizure – but Bellatrix just moaned in response, then moved back, pulling – Andromeda's face twisted in disgust – Rodolphus's penis out of her mouth.

"Oh, Bella," Rodolphus moaned, but Bellatrix was already standing up. "My turn, Rod," she told him, pushing him down to his knees. She flipped up her school skirt, and Rodolphus eagerly pulled her knickers off and buried his face between her legs.

Andromeda swallowed hard, face flushing as Bellatrix moaned and rocked her hips against Rodolphus's face. She felt something wet inside her knickers, and she shifted. It felt so much like when Bellatrix had touched her last night…

"Mm- ohh…" Bellatrix moaned. "Harder, Rod, harder- oh, just there…"

She pulled the buttons of her blouse open and moved both hands up to the bra she was wearing, and Andromeda could not stifle a small gasp as Bellatrix massaged her breasts through the fabric, pinching nipples so erect that Andromeda could see them even from the distance she was at.

The noise of the gasp wasn't much, but it was clearly enough. Bellatrix's eyes flew open, and they fell on Andromeda, standing there in plain view.

There was a second in which their eyes locked, then Bellatrix cried out wordlessly, and clear liquid gushed over Rodolphus's face.

Andromeda shrunk back, hiding around the corner as Rodolphus purred something in a low voice. "All over my shirt…" was all Andromeda could make you.

"I'm sorry, darling…" Bellatrix's voice was unnaturally sweet and light. "I couldn't help it… what you were doing just felt so good… Oh, here." Her voice abruptly went sharp, and Andromeda peeked out around the corner again to see Bellatrix draw her wand. "Scourgify. There, happy?"

Rodolphus nodded and stood up, pressing his lips against Bellatrix's.

"Good. Go on, then, Slughorn's going to be wondering where you are…"

Andromeda watched Rodolphus turn and head off in the opposite direction from the way Andromeda had come, and as soon as he was gone, Bellatrix marched over to Andromeda and grabbed her arm. "Did you follow us down here?" she demanded.

"No!" Andromeda cried, shocked by her sister's violent reaction. "I- I got lost!"

"I'm sure," sneered Bellatrix. "You got lost and you just so _happened_ to walk in on me and Rodolphus."

"I did!" Andromeda's eyes filled with tears and her lip trembled. "I got lost down here and I heard someone and I followed the noise and it was you and Rodolphus–"

"Oh, shut up!" Bellatrix snapped. "I don't want to hear it. Come on." She gripped her sister's wrist and pulled her down a new corridor.

"Bella, please don't be angry with me," Andromeda said in a tiny voice.

Bellatrix stopped and turned around, the frustration draining from her expression.

"Oh Andi…" she muttered. "I'm not angry… you didn't know any better…" She leaned down and gave her sister a quick hug. "I'm sorry."

Andromeda was wary, but she hugged her back. "What were you and Rodolphus doing?" she asked, though she had a feeling she didn't really want to know, given how she hated the idea of them doing _anything_ together.

Bellatrix was silent for a moment, then said, "I'll tell you what, Andi. We both need to get up to the Great Hall now, you need to get your timetable and then we have classes… but… sometime… I'll tell you what it was that we were doing." She paused briefly, looking at her little sister with a slight smirk playing on her lips. "I'll _show_ you."


End file.
